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The Kremlin has said that Russia will be forced to respond in kind if the United States began developing new missiles after quitting a landmark Cold War-era treaty.
Key points:
- The 1987 bilateral treaty required the elimination of short-and-medium-range missiles by both countries
- The treaty’s demise would raise the possibility of a spiralling arms race
- US national security adviser is in Moscow after Mr Trump’s announced plan to quit pact
President Donald Trump said that Washington would withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) because Russia was violating the pact, triggering a warning of retaliatory measures from Moscow.
The treaty, signed by former US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, required the elimination of short-and-intermediate-range nuclear and conventional missiles by both countries.
Its demise would raise the possibility of a spiralling arms race.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the US move would make the world a more dangerous place and said Russia would be forced to act to restore the balance of military power if Washington quit the pact and started developing new missiles.
“This is a question of strategic security. Such measures can make the world more dangerous,” Mr Peskov said of the planned US withdrawal.
According to Mr Peskov, President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly said that the demise of the treaty would force Russia to take specific steps to protect its own security.
“It means that the United States is not disguising, but is openly starting to develop these systems in the future, and if these systems are being developed, then actions are necessary from other countries, in this case Russia, to restore balance in this sphere,” Mr Peskov said.
Mr Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton is in Moscow and due to meet Mr Putin on Tuesday.
Mr Peskov said Mr Trump’s decision to quit the pact would obviously be a subject for discussion and that Moscow was looking for a detailed explanation for why Washington had decided to turn its back on the treaty.
US authorities believe Moscow is developing and has deployed a ground-launched system in breach of the INF treaty that could allow it to launch a nuclear strike on Europe at short notice.
Russia has consistently denied any such violation.
Reuters
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, treaties-and-alliances, donald-trump, world-politics, united-states, russian-federation, european-union
