The US officially withdrew from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty on 2 August after announcing the move in February. Both Washington and Moscow had mutual questions about the treaty’s compliance, but the former decided to abandon the deal instead of salvaging it.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has called the US decision to withdraw from the INF Treaty a “grave mistake”. The ministry noted that the move was preceded by deliberate efforts on the part of Washington to undermine the accord, creating a pretext for its collapse, and saying those efforts indicate that the US has steered a course to destroy all international agreements that doesn’t suit Washington for any reason.
“Having launched a propaganda campaign, based on deliberately misleading disinformation about Russia’s alleged violations of the INF, the United States has intentionally created a literally unsurmountable crisis around the treaty”, the ministry’s statement read.
The Foreign Ministry said that the INF withdrawal indicates an imminent need for stabilisation in bilateral relations between the US and Russia and added that Moscow remains open for a dialogue on the restoration of mutual trust and strengthening of global security.
The ministry also called on the US to discard plans for deploying short- and medium-range missiles and promised that in this case, Russia won’t be deploying similar armaments in response. The statement noted that otherwise all responsibility for the escalating tensions will lie on Washington’s shoulders.
“We have already introduced a unilateral moratorium and will not deploy medium-range and short-range ground-based missiles, if we ever obtain such, in those regions, where similar American armaments won’t be present”, the statement said.