Kremlin:

Russia, Europe Concerned About Unclear Future of INF Treaty

TEHRAN (defapress)- Both Russia and the European countries are alarmed by the unclear future of the Russian-US Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Dmitry Peskov said late on Sunday.

News ID: 73656

Date: 12 November 2018 - 14:57

"Europeans are concerned about the situation with short-range and medium-range missiles, we are concerned. The fate of this document is unclear, and most importantly — what will happen next with these missiles, it is also not clear. Therefore, it is needed to sit down and talk," Peskov told the Rossyia 1 broadcaster.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Sunday there were many issues on the agenda of a future meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump.

"There are many issues on the agenda and the presidents will discuss what they believe to be necessary," Lavrov added, as aired on Rossiya 1 broadcaster.

However, Peskov stated that there were no "concrete agreements" on a potential meeting of Putin and Trump at the upcoming G20 summit in Argentina.

"Circumstances keep changing for our US colleagues, we might also have some changes. So there are no concrete agreements at the moment, we cannot say anything with certainty," Peskov told Rossiya 1 broadcaster.

The Kremlin Spokesman added that the number of issues on bilateral agenda kept growing.

Peskov stressed that "deficit of mutual trust" in the relations of the two countries was growing amid delays in preparation of the Putin-Trump summit.

In October, Trump announced that Washington intended to leave the INF Treaty, accusing Russia of violating it numerous times, while the Kremlin rejected the accusations, adding that Russia would be forced to take measures to ensure its security if the treaty was terminated by the United States.

The INF Treaty is an agreement that the United States and the Soviet Union signed in December 1987. It prohibited either country from possessing, producing or flight-testing ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (311 to 3,418 miles) and their launchers.

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