The Russian Foreign Ministry has officially confirmed that the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty (INF) has been terminated due to the initiative of the United States.
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“On August 2, 2019, at the initiative of the American side the operation of the treaty between the Soviet Union and the United States on the elimination of intermediate and shorter-range missiles signed in Washington on December 8, 1987, was terminated,” the Foreign Ministry announced on the legal information website on Friday.
As EurAsiam Times reported earlier, the US will commence the process of withdrawing from the INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty) from February 2. This was announced on Wednesday, Deputy State Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson, according to reports Reuters.
Thompson added that the United States decided to begin the process of exiting the INF Treaty because they see no signs that Russia, which Washington accuses of violating this treaty, will comply with it.
“We could not make a breakthrough yesterday with Russia,” said Thompson. “Based on yesterday’s discussion and relevant rhetoric today, we see no signs that Russia will decide on compliance [with the INF Treaty],” the US Undersecretary of State said.
She noted that in the course of the Russian-American consultations held on Tuesday in Geneva, no breakthrough was achieved. The process of withdrawing from the INF Treaty by the United States from the treaty will take six months.
As reported by Bloomberg, the US Permanent Representative to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison, said that the US is funding development to counter medium-range and short-range missiles. She added that the time period for the development of such missile has not been determined yet.
Consultations between the Russian Federation and the United States on the INF Treaty was held on January 15 in Geneva, which lasted for more than two hours. The Russian delegation was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, the US – Andrea Thompson.
The diplomat noted that the United States does not have enough data on the Russian missile, which they suspect of violating the parameters set by the INF Treaty to verify its range.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a press conference said that the Russian side had offered the United States to inspect the 9M729 missile which they suspect of violating the INF Treaty, “but the Americans were not interested.
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