The US has formally withdrawn from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia. The INF treaty was signed by then US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev way back in 1987.
The treaty banned missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 km. Earlier this year the US and NATO accused Russia of violating the agreement by deploying a new type of cruise missile, accusations which Moscow denied.
The Washington claimed to have evidence that Russia had deployed multiple 9M729 missiles – or SSC-8 missiles as called by NATO . In a statement the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo deemed Russia to be solely responsible for the treaty’s demise.
Russia’s foreign ministry in a press release carried by State-run Ria Novosti news agency, confirmed the ending of the INF treaty. In the February of 2018, President Donald Trump set a August 2, 2019 deadline for US to withdraw if Russia didn’t comply.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended his country’s own obligations to the treaty soon after the announcement of this deadline by President Trump.
