Lavrov:

US to Officially Announce Pullout from INF Treaty Soon

TEHRAN (defapress) - Moscow understands that Washington’s decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) is final and will most likely be announced officially, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger on Friday.

News ID: 73447

Date: 02 November 2018 - 14:28

Russia is interested in keeping this Treaty, Lavrov stressed.

"We are ready to work on this situation. However, as we understand, the US decision is final and will soon be announced officially," the Russian foreign minister said, TASS news agency reported.

US President Donald Trump said on October 20 that Washington would withdraw from the INF Treaty because Russia, in his opinion, was violating the terms of the agreement. At the same time, he did not rule out signing a new agreement on intermediate-range nuclear forces with Moscow and Beijing if Russia and China provide guarantees of halting the development of such weapons.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov described the US plans to withdraw from the INF Treaty as a dangerous step. Washington's position was criticized in Berlin and Beijing. London expressed its support for the US decision, while NATO laid the responsibility for Trump's decision on Russia, which as the Alliance alleged, violated the Treaty.

Moscow has rejected all allegations and puts forward its respective concerns about the US adherence to the INF Treaty.

The INF Treaty was concluded in Washington on December 8, 1987 and took effect on June 1, 1988. The INF Treaty eliminated operational and non-operational medium range (1,000-5,500 kilometers) and shorter range (500-1,000 kilometers) ground-launched missiles. The Soviet Union eliminated 1,846 missiles, and the United States, 846.

The United States accused Russia of violating the INF Treaty for the first time in July 2014. Since then, Washington has been repeating these accusations while Moscow has been categorically rejecting them. On July 8, 2017, an initiative was submitted to the US Congress to impose sanctions on Russia for violating the INF Treaty.

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