Russia’s State Duma approved a law on suspension of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty submitted by President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow on Tuesday.
A total of 417 lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, while one abstained from voting. Upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, will reportedly discuss the bill on June 26.
On February 2nd, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Moscow’s intention to suspend observance of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty as “a symmetrical response” to Washington.
The INF Treaty was originally signed in 1987 by US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, to eliminate the US and Soviet stocks of intermediate-range and shorter-range landed-based missiles. The treaty bans missiles with ranges between 500 and 1,000 km (310-620 miles) and those between 1,000-5,500 kilometers (620 miles – 3,417 miles).