Trump announces US withdrawal from nuclear weapons treaty

President Donald Trump withdraws the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a 1987 pact with the former Soviet Union which became a pillar of international arms control.

"The United States will suspend its obligations under the INF Treaty and begin the process of withdrawal which will end in six months, unless Russia complies, destroying all missiles, launchers and badociated equipment in violation "Trump said in a statement released Friday.

The Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, told reporters at the state department that "countries must badume their responsibilities when they break the rules", and Russia has violated the agreement for years"without remorse"

The announcement was made before the deadline set Saturday to Russia for the destruction of all its ground cruise missiles known as 9M729, their equipment and their launchers. The the suspension represents a new escalation in US-US relations. and Russia and another rejection by Trump and his collaborators to international agreements, from the nuclear agreement with Iran to the international agreement on climate change.

"The responsibility for changing the course of a destabilizing pattern of activity lies with Rusia ", says Pompeo.We will continue to have conversations with them. We hope that they will see each other againhe added later.

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Although Europeans and many US lawmakers have hoped to preserve the treaty to curb the proliferation of medium-range nuclear missiles launched from the ground, the Trump government has claimed that Russia has been in violation for many years.

The National Security Advisor at the White House, John Bolton, said that the treaty is obsolete and that it does not respond to the growing threat of China, which is not a signatory.

The Secretary General of NATO, Jens StoltenbergHe warned countries against a possible collapse of the treaty.

USA argues that Russia has been endangering the INF treaty for years by deploying missiles launched from land in the forbidden range of 500 km to 5,500 km. Russia denied violating the INF treaty, accused the United States of the violations and said the withdrawal of the Cold War agreement would trigger an arms race.

"On February 2, USA will cease to fulfill its obligations under the treaty"said the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergei Ryabkov, in an interview on national television Friday. "This is a step serior "Russia is now waiting to see if Washington"Notify us of your retirement"he added.

American denuclearization

In October, Trump said he wanted to retire, but after consulting with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkeland other allies have decided to delay the suspension. Pompeo declared at the beginning of December that the United States still gave Russia two months to comply with the treaty.

"Our NATO allies fully support us, because they understand the threat posed by the violation of Russia and the arms control risks involved in non-compliance with treaty violations."Trump said in the statement.

Stoltenberg said in a tweet after the announcement that NATO fully supports US action. "Russia has seriously violated the #INFT treaty and must use the next 6 months to return to full and verifiable compliance or be solely responsible for its demise."

But comments from some European nations suggest that the allies are not totally in agreement with the decision.

"Without the INF Treaty, security will be less"said the German Foreign Minister on Friday, Heiko Maasto the journalists of Bucharest. "But we must take note that the Russian side is violating the INF Treaty."