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Reuters and EPA
Mr. Gorbachev questioned the feeling of withdrawing from the INF
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said that US President Trump's plan to withdraw from a major nuclear weapons treaty dating back to the Cold War went against efforts to reach the nuclear disarmament.
Gorbachev – who signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with President Reagan in 1987 – questioned the intelligence of the plan.
Mr Trump said that Russia had "violated [the INF] for many years".
Russia condemned the plans and threatened retaliation.
The Kremlin said President Putin would ask US National Security Adviser John Bolton for an explanation.
Germany was the first ally of the United States to criticize this initiative. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas urged Washington to consider the implications for both Europe and future disarmament efforts.
INF has banned mid-range missiles launched on the ground with a range of 500 to 5,500 km.
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AFP
Gorbachev and Reagan signed the INF Treaty in 1987
It was signed towards the end of the Cold War, a period of relations between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1989, marked by intense international tension and overshadowed by the threat of conflict nuclear.
Over the last five decades, the United States and Russia have signed various joint agreements to limit and reduce their substantial nuclear arsenals.
Who is Mikhail Gorbachev?
- The last secretary general of the Soviet Union
- Appointed in 1985, its national reforms and nuclear disarmament agreements helped end the cold war.
- Withdrew from the Soviet presidency in 1991 after the proclamation of the independence of the Soviet republics
Read more:The man who lost an empire
What exactly did Trump say?
President Trump said that the United States would not let Russia "go out and make arms" [while] we are not allowed to ".
"I do not know why the president [Barack] Obama has not negotiated or withdrawn, "the president said of the INF treaty after a campaign rally in Nevada.
- Russia denies breaking missile treaty
- Tensions rise as US threatens to "suppress" Russian missiles
In 2014, President Obama accused Russia of violating the INF after allegedly testing a ground cruise missile. He would have chosen not to withdraw from the treaty under the pressure of European leaders, who said that such an initiative could revive an arms race.
How has Russia reacted?
"This would be a very dangerous step which, I am sure, will not only not be understood by the international community, but will provoke a serious conviction," said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
The treaty is "important for international security in the area of nuclear weapons, for the maintenance of strategic stability," he told the news agency Tass.
The minister also told the RIA Novosti news agency that if the United States continued to behave "clumsily and grossly" and evade international agreements, "we will have no other choice to take retaliatory action, including by means of a military technology ".
"But we would not want to get to this point," he added.
"An important setback"
Analysis by Jonathan Marcus, BBC Defense Diplomatic Correspondent
The concern over Russia's development and deployment of a missile system that violates the INF treaty was prior to the Trump administration. But the president's decision to withdraw from the agreement marks a major setback for arms control.
Many experts believe that the negotiations should have continued in an attempt to bring the Russians into compliance. They fear that this may be part of the more general process of the arms control treaty system, which has served to rein in strategic competition during the Cold War.
Other factors may also have played into President Trump's decision. It was a bilateral treaty between Washington and Moscow. China was free to develop and deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles. Some members of the Trump administration believe that the INF treaty puts them at a greater disadvantage in the development of their strategic rivalry with Beijing.
Has Russia violated the treaty?
The United States insists that the Russians have, in violation of the agreement, developed a new medium-range missile called Novator 9M729 – known as SSC-8 by NATO.
This would allow Russia to launch a nuclear attack against the NATO countries in a very short time.
Russia has spoken little about its new missile, except to deny that it violates the agreement. According to analysts, Russia considers such weapons as a cheaper alternative to conventional forces.
The New York Times reported on Friday that the United States planned to withdraw from the treaty to counter China's growing military presence in the Western Pacific. China was not a signatory to the agreement, which allowed it to develop medium-range missiles without constraint.
The last time the United States withdrew from a major arms treaty, it was in 2002, when President George W. Bush withdrew them from the anti-ballistic missile treaty, which prohibited weapons designed to counter ballistic nuclear missiles.
The decision of its administration to set up a missile defense shield in Europe alarmed the Kremlin and was abandoned by the Obama administration in 2009. It was replaced by a modified defense system in 2016.
What is the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty?
- Signed by the United States and the USSR in 1987, the arms control agreement banned all short and medium range nuclear and non-nuclear missiles, with the exception of weapons launched by sea. .
- The United States was concerned about the Soviet deployment of the SS-20 missile system and reacted by placing the Pershing and Cruise missiles in Europe, causing many protests.
- In 1991, nearly 2,700 missiles had been destroyed. Both countries were allowed to inspect other facilities
- In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the treaty no longer served the interests of Russia. This decision comes after the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002.
