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ELKO, Nev. / MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said Washington would withdraw the Cold War era treaty that was eliminating a class of nuclear weapons because of Russian violations, triggering a warning from the US. retaliation by Moscow.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, negotiated in 1987 by then President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, foresaw the elimination of short-range and conventional nuclear and conventional missiles. intermediate by both countries.
"Russia has unfortunately not respected the agreement, so we will terminate the agreement and we will withdraw," Trump told the press on Saturday following a gathering in Nevada.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Sunday that a unilateral withdrawal from the United States would be "very dangerous" and would result in "military-technical" retaliation.
The US authorities believe that Moscow is developing and has put in place a system launched on the ground, in violation of the INF Treaty, which could allow it to trigger a nuclear strike in Europe at short notice. Russia has always denied any such violation.
Trump said the US would develop weapons unless Russia and China agree to stop development.
China is not party to the treaty and has invested heavily in conventional missiles, while the INF has banned US possession of ground-launched ballistic missiles or cruise missiles with a range of 500 and 5,500 km.
Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton will visit Moscow next week.
Ryabkov, in remarks reported by the state-controlled news agency RIA, said that if the US withdrew, Russia would have no choice but to take retaliation measures, including unspecified measures of "technical-military nature".
"But we would prefer that things do not go that far," RIA said, quoted by RIA.
According to the news agency TASS, he said his withdrawal "would be a very dangerous step", and that it was Washington and not Moscow that did not respect the treaty.
He added that the Trump administration was using the treaty to try to blackmail the Kremlin, thus jeopardizing global security. "… We will of course not accept ultimatums or blackmail methods," Interfax said.
In comments by the Financial Times, British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson said London was "resolved" behind Washington on this issue and that the Kremlin was mocking the deal.
Report by Jeff Mason; Additional reports by Idrees Ali and Polina Devitt; edited by John Stonestreet
