Washington’s move to leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty may destroy the entire global security architecture and spark a new arms race, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily.
“The decision to suspend the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty may have serious consequences for the entire global security architecture and spark a new arms race,” he said.
The INF Treaty, signed by the Soviet Union and the United States on December 8, 1987, took effect on June 1, 1988. It applies to deployed and non-deployed ground-based missiles of intermediate range (1,000-5,000 kilometers) and shorter range (500-1,000 kilometers). Washington on many occasions accused Russia of violating the Treaty but Moscow strongly dismissed all accusations and expressed grievances concerning Washington’s non-compliance.