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MOSCOW – The national security adviser, John R. Bolton, President of the United States.
Mr. Trump and his hard-line aides, particularly Mr. Bolton, have long expressed their displeasure with the agreement, the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, because they say Russia is not a signatory.
"Unless they are going to come back and they say, '' Let's get smart and let's go ahead. '' Mr. Trump said after a campaign rally on Saturday.
In response, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, hinted at a new arms race, saying Russia would be forced to develop new weapons "to restore balance in this sphere."
The proposal and the Kremlin's reaction to the issue of an armed conflict. Is it really so important that its demise would touch off a global arms race?
What is the I.N.F. Treaty?
The treaty resolved a crisis of the 1980s when the Soviet Union deployed a missile in Europe called the SS-20, capable of carrying three nuclear warheads. The United States Responds to Cruise and Pershing II Missiles.
By the time President Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader at the time, cut the deal to the weapons in 1987, the intermediate-range missiles times – as little as 10 minutes.
This was particularly troubling to the Soviet command, which could be helped by a "bolt from the blue" strike before it could order a retaliatory attack. Partly in response to this shortcoming, Moscow developeddead hand "trigger to fire its arsenal at the United States without an order from the leadership, based on computers and radiation seismic sensors.
In 2014, during the crisis, the government newspaper published an article saying this system using "artificial intelligence" to order nuclear war was still operative, though not switched on in peacetime.
The ballistic missiles with ranges between 311 miles and 3,420 miles. It does not cover air- or sea-launched weapons, such as the American Tomahawk and Russian Kalibr cruise missiles that are fired from ships, submarines or airplanes, and easily fly similar distances.
Is Russia actually cheating?
It certainly seems so. It was the Obama administration that first accused Russia of violating the treaty in 2014 as the crisis in Ukraine ratcheted up tensions. American officials say Moscow is ready for the missile SSC-8, a land-based cruise missile that threatens European nations.
Even during the administration of the United States, the United States argued that the Soviet Union has been subject to the rule of thumb.
But the Trump Administration's greatest worry may be in Asia, where the 1980s pact now constrains the United States of America. the Western Pacific.
The Chinese, though not a signatory to the treaty, weighed in Monday, saying they also opposed the United States' unilateral withdrawal.
Mr. Bolton, speaking to the Echo of Moscow radio station in Moscow, responded that, "the Chinese are not participants in this agreement and want it preserved."
That was hardly a surprise, he said, adding, "If I were Chinese, I would say the same thing."
How has Russia reacted?
In brief, with warnings of an arms race and other apocalyptic threats.
Asked about the possibility of a United States withdrawal, President Vladimir Putin mused about nuclear Armageddon, saying they are ready to launch a retaliatory strike because they know they will go to heaven in a nuclear war.
"The aggressors should know: Revenge is inevitable and they will be destroyed," Mr. Putin said. "And we, as victims of aggression, will go straight to heaven as martyrs while they will just croak."
Others have been somewhat more restrained.
"Any action in this field," Sergey V. Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, told reporters before meeting with Mr. Bolton.
This row of warriors of a new arms race, with an outside expert threating that Russia would develop a swarm of small drone-terminal bombs to hit the United States, to suggestions that the move was a bluff on the eve of the midterm elections in the United States.
On Monday, Mr. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, denied that Russia had violated the treaty, saying that "on the contrary" it was the Americans who had breached its spirit. Russia argues that American anti-missile batteries in Europe could be used to fire offensive weapons, and that armed United States drones fly within the ranges prohibited by the convention for cruise missiles.
With Mr. Bolton in town, Rossiskaya Gazeta, the newspaper, ruled under the headline "Trump Turns to Blackmail, "suggesting that he was applying the same hardball tactics to a nuclear deal.
How do the Europeans see the issue?
Curiously, Russia is threatening new missiles threatening Europe, it was European leaders who most loudly protested withdrawal from the treaty.
Germany's foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said in a statement that the treaty has "been an important pillar of our European security architecture," while numerous analysts have noted that the issue has the potential to drive a new wedge between the United States and Europe at a time of deep stress to trans-Atlantic relations.
Maja Kocijancic, the European Union's spokeswoman for foreign affairs and security policy, said in a statement that, "the United States and the Russian Federation need to be engaged in constructive dialogue to preserve the I.N.F. Treaty, "because" the world does not need a new arms race. "
But with Russia preparing to deploy a hypersonic missile that is not covered by existing arms control agreements, with China deploying intermediate range missiles and the United States responding by modifying cruise missiles to deploy in Asia .
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