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Russia pulls out of nuclear treaty in tit-for-tat response

RUSSIA announced its withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty on Saturday in a tit-for-tat move one day after the United States pulled out of the peace agreement.

It followed a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss Russia’s reaction to Washington’s decision.

In a long-expected move, the US announced it was suspending co-operation with the deal on Friday with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accusing Moscow of violating the terms of the INF treaty “without remorse.”

Russia denied the claims demanding the US offers proof of its allegations. Mr Lavrov said the US was in breach of its obligations under the treaty by developing combat drones similar to the banned ground-based missiles.

Mr Putin said: “We will come up with a tit-for-tat response. Our American partners have announced the suspension of their participation in the treaty, so we will suspend as well.”

He said he hoped that the Russian response would trigger the US into considering previous proposals to save the treaty.

“Over the past several years, we have seen that our partners do not support our initiatives,” Mr Putin said.

“On the contrary, they are constantly looking for certain pretexts to dismantle the global security system.”

Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the Federation Council's International Relations Committee, said Washington had “taken another step toward [the world's] destruction.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned the US decision was part of “the strategy of the United States to get out of its international legal obligations in different areas.”

The INF treaty was signed in 1987 toward the end of the Cold War and banned the production, development and deployment of ground-launched cruise or ballistic missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometres. 

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