After the US decision, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia also suspends its participation in the nuclear disarmament treaty

Russia suspends its participation in the INF nuclear disarmament treaty in response to a similar measure adopted by the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday.

"We will give a symmetric answer (in the USA). Our North American partners have announced that they are suspending their participation in the treaty; we do it too"said the Russian leader at a meeting with Russian Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigú.

Putin pointed out that the United States ignored Russian initiatives for years on disarmament and "all the time looking for excuses to dismantle the existing security system"

He also asked Foreign Affairs and Defense officials not to start new negotiations on this with the United States before "American partners ready to lead a coherent dialogue on an equal footing"about a problem that is"very important to us and our partners and the rest of the world"

At a time, denied that Russia is now considering participating in a new arms race with Washington. "We must not be dragged into an expensive arms race," he said.

For his part, Lavrov noted that Moscow "tried to do everything possible to save the treaty (INF), given its importance for strategic security in Europe and the world ".

Meanwhile, the defense minister badured the United States "violates the treaty for years"Disarmament was accepted during the Cold War and proposed to start developing a medium-range hypersonic missile in Russia, an initiative that has been approved by Russia.

At the time, the United States had given Russia on February 2 to comply "verifiably" with the INF, an ultimatum dismissed by the authorities of that country, which blamed Washington for its failure to comply. increase the risk of nuclear war in the world. abandoning the main disarmament treaties for international security.

(With EFE information)