Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a federal law to suspend
the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a relevant
document was posted on Wednesday on the official legal information
website.
“To suspend the Treaty Between the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics and the United States of America on the Elimination of
Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles signed in the
city of Washington on December 8, 1987,” the document says.
The INF Treaty, formally Treaty Between the U.S. and the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their
Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles; was an arms control
treaty between the U.S. and the Soviet Union (and its successor
state, the Russian Federation).
U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary
Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty on Dec. 8, 1987.
The U.S. Senate approved the treaty on May 27, 1988, and Reagan
and Gorbachev ratified it on 1 June 1988.
The INF Treaty banned all of the two nations’ land-based
ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and missile launchers with
ranges of 500–1,000 kilometers (310–620 mi) (short medium-range)
and 1,000–5,500 km (620–3,420 mi) (intermediate-range). The treaty
did not apply to air- or sea-launched missiles.
By May 1991, the nations had eliminated 2,692 missiles, followed
by 10 years of on-site verification inspections.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on 20 October 2018 that he
was withdrawing the U.S. from the treaty, accusing Russia of
non-compliance.
The U.S. formally suspended the treaty on 1 February 2019, and
Russia did so on the following day in response to the U.S.
withdrawal.
Russia, which denies the allegation, later followed suit. Moscow
accuses the United States of breaking the accord itself, a claim
rejected by Washington.
The INF Treaty was the first of its kind to eliminate an entire
class of missiles.
It banned the United States and Russia from developing,
producing, and deploying ground-launched cruise or ballistic
missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.
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