Moscow: The United States on Friday formally abandoned the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia, a statement from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, accusing Moscow of deliberately violating the Cold War-era arms pact.

"The US withdrawal... of the treaty takes effect today," Pompeo said on a visit to Bangkok for a regional summit.

"Russia is solely responsible for the treaty's demise." </s> Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to announce the U.S. intention to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty as soon as Friday, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the decision.

Russia has been in violation of the Cold War era arms control agreement for more than five years. The U.S. gave Russia 60 days to return to compliance in December when Pompeo announced at a NATO Foreign Ministers meeting that Russia was in "material breach" of the treaty.

"We either bury our head in the sand, or we take common sense action in response to Russia’s flagrant disregard of the express terms of the INF treaty," Pompeo said from NATO headquarters.

The INF Treaty prevents the U.S. and Russia from possessing any land-based cruise missiles that can strike within a 500 to 5,500 kilometers — 310 to 3,410 miles — range. The deal signed in 1987 by President Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev was primarily designed to keep ground-based nuclear weapons out of Europe.

The announcement was not unexpected but some arms control experts have expressed concerns U.S. withdrawal could lead to a new arms race.

"The INF Treaty continues to serve as a check on some of the most destabilizing types of nuclear weapons that the U.S. and Russia could deploy," says former senior diplomat Thomas Countryman, now chairman of the board of directors of the Arms Control Association. "Without the treaty, there is a serious risk of a new intermediate-range, ground-based missile arms race in Europe and beyond."

With the deadline in two days and both sides claiming no progress has been made, the U.S. is expected to formally suspend its obligations under the treaty Saturday and begin a six-month process of withdrawal.

"Our current situation, in which Russia continues to violate the treaty while we abide by the treaty, is untenable," Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Andrea Thompson forewarned earlier this month. "Violations must have consequences." </s> (CNN) — The United States announced Friday it has formally withdrawn from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Moscow, putting an end to a landmark arms control pact that has limited the development of ground-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.

“Russia is solely responsible for the treaty’s demise,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Friday announcing the US’ formal withdrawal from the Cold-War era nuclear treaty.

Pompeo said “Russia failed to return to full and verified compliance through the destruction of its noncompliant missile system.”

The US initially announced in February that this would take place on August 2.

NATO allies said in a statement that Russia remains in violation of the INF Treaty, “despite years of U.S. and Allied engagement”, adding that they fully support the US decision to withdraw.

It adds that over the past six months Russia had a “final opportunity” to honor the treaty but failed. </s> Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Friday that the US is suspending the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a key pact with Russia that has been a centerpiece of European security since the Cold War.

“For years, Russia has violated the terms of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty without remorse,” Pompeo said, speaking from the State Department. “Russia’s violations put millions of Europeans and Americans at greater risk.”

“It is our duty to respond appropriately,” Pompeo said, adding that the US had provided “ample time” to Russia to return to compliance.

The long-expected suspension, which has raised concerns about a renewed arms race with Moscow and put European allies on edge, goes into effect on Saturday. Pompeo’s announcement starts a 180-day clock to complete withdrawal unless Russia returns to compliance with the 1987 agreement.

President Donald Trump and his senior officials had been signaling for months that they were ready to pull out of the INF treaty, which the US accuses Moscow of violating since 2014.

“The United States has fully adhered to the INF Treaty for more than 30 years, but we will not remain constrained by its terms while Russia misrepresents its actions,” Trump said in a statement Friday. “We cannot be the only country in the world unilaterally bound by this treaty, or any other.”

Russia and the US are the only two parties to the treaty, but it significantly affects European security.

The ground-based nuclear tipped cruise missiles covered by the bilateral agreement can fly between 310 to 3,100 miles, making them a threat to Europe, where officials have unanimously backed the US decision, even as they consider their next steps and admit having little to no optimism that the treaty can be saved.

In a statement, NATO said America’s allies “fully support” the US decision because of Russia’s threat to Euro-Atlantic security and its refusal to provide any credible response or take any steps towards full and verifiable compliance.

NATO urged Russia to use the next six months to “return to full and verifiable compliance to preserve the INF Treaty.”

Even as they voice support for the US decision, the prospect of the INF’s dissolution is deeply worrying for Europe governments, where officials expressed deep concern about what the US decision will mean.

Russia is likely to use the US withdrawal as an excuse to deploy systems elsewhere, many analysts said, possibly unleashing an arms race of previously prohibited weapons systems.

“The bigger picture is what kind of sign you’re sending out, what message you’re sending,” said one European official. “For us, this treaty was extremely important for our security. What are we looking at instead” if it is scrapped, the official asked. </s> WASHINGTON — The United States formally withdrew from a landmark nuclear missile pact with Russia on Friday after determining that Moscow was in violation of the treaty and had no plans to come into compliance with it.

U.S. President Donald Trump made the determination that the United States would terminate adherence to the 1987 arms control accord, known as the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), senior administration officials told reporters.

The treaty bans either side from stationing short- and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe. Washington signaled its intention six months ago to pull out of the agreement if Russia made no move to adhere to it.

“The United States will not remain party to a treaty that is deliberately violated by Russia,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement about the U.S. withdrawal.

“Russia’s noncompliance under the treaty jeopardizes U.S. supreme interests as Russia’s development and fielding of a treaty-violating missile system represents a direct threat to the United States and our allies and partners,” Pompeo said.

The senior administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Russia had deployed “multiple battalions” of a Russian cruise missile throughout Russia in violation of the pact, including in western Russia, “with the ability to strike critical European targets.”

Russia denies the allegation, saying the missile’s range puts it outside the treaty, and has accused the United States of inventing a false pretext to exit a treaty Washington wants to leave anyway so it can develop new missiles. Russia has also rejected a U.S. demand to destroy the new missile.

The missile, the Novator 9M729, is known as the SSC-8 by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The INF treaty, negotiated by then-President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and ratified by the U.S. Senate, eliminated the medium-range missile arsenals of the world’s two biggest nuclear powers and reduced their ability to launch a nuclear strike at short notice.

The treaty bans land-based missiles with a range between 310 and 3,400 miles (500-5,500 km).

The dispute is aggravating the worst U.S.-Russia friction since the Cold War ended in 1991. Some experts believe the treaty’s collapse could undermine other arms control agreements and speed an erosion of the global system designed to block the spread of nuclear arms.

Trump has sought to improve U.S. relations with Russia after a chill during the tenure of his predecessor, Barack Obama. He and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Wednesday about Siberian wildfires and trade.

Arms control did not come up in the call, the officials said.

European officials have voiced concern that if the treaty collapses, Europe could again become an arena for nuclear-armed, intermediate-range missile buildups by the United States and Russia.

The officials said the United States was months away from the first flight tests of an American intermediate-range missile that would serve as a counter to the Russians. Any such deployment would be years away, they said.

“We are just at the stage of looking at how we might further the development of conventional options,” one official said.

Trump has said he would like to see a “next-generation” arms control deal with Russia and China to cover all types of nuclear weapons.

He has broached the topic individually with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, including at the G20 summit in Osaka in June.

China is not a party to nuclear arms pacts between the United States and Russia and it is unclear how willing Beijing would be to be drawn into talks.

China’s Foreign Ministry has reiterated that the country had no interest in joining such talks. </s> Aug. 2 (UPI) -- The United States has officially abandoned a Cold War-era nuclear weapons pact with Russia -- a groundbreaking agreement when it was brokered by former President Ronald Reagan -- because officials say Moscow broke the deal years ago and never came back.

The Trump administration said in February it was planning to leave the 1987 accord and gave Russia six months to return to compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty.

The treaty signed by Reagan and the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev prohibited intermediate-range land-based cruise and ballistic missiles.

"The U.S. gave Russia six months to return to compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted Friday. "Russia refused, so the treaty ends today.

"The U.S. will not remain party to a treaty when others violate it. Russia bears sole responsibility."

The Russian foreign ministry acknowledged the INF treaty was dead.

"At the initiative of the American side, the operation of the treaty between the Soviet Union and the United States on the elimination of intermediate and shorter range missiles signed in Washington on December 8, 1987 was terminated," it said Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law last month suspending Russia's participation in the deal.

The U.S. threat to withdraw followed disclosures by NATO that a new Russian missile system had violated the treaty. U.S. officials said Moscow also violated the deal in 2013 with its development of the 9M729 missile system.

Putin, however, denies Russia has ever breached the arms agreement.

The last major arms deal between the two nations, the New START treaty, expires in two years. </s> The United States announced Friday that it will withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia, an agreement that dates back to the Cold War.

The US will suspend its obligations under the 1987 pact on Saturday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. </s> SHANGHAI, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The United States should resolve its differences with Russia through dialogue instead of threatening to withdraw from an important nuclear arms control agreement between the two nations, China’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The United States’ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that Washington would withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia within six months unless Russia returned to “full and verifiable compliance” with the treaty.

Washington claims Russia’s new Novator 9M729 cruise missile violates the agreement, which bans ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 km (310 to 3,420 miles).

“As an important bilateral treaty in arms control and disarmament, the Intermediate-Range Treaty has great significance in improving relations between major powers, strengthening international and regional peace, and maintaining global strategic balance and stability,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement posted on its website.

“China is opposed to U.S. withdrawal action and urges the United States and Russia to handle their differences properly through constructive dialogue,” the statement said, warning that unilateral withdrawal could trigger “negative consequences”.

The agreement officially expires in early 2021 but can be extended by another five years if both Washington and Moscow agree. However, Russian officials have accused the United States of inventing a pretext to end the treaty, allowing them to develop new weapons.

China’s foreign ministry said it was not in favour of drawing up a multilateral arms control agreement to replace the Intermediate-Range Treaty, saying the issues were too complicated and that existing agreements should instead be maintained and implemented. (Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Joseph Radford) </s> WASHINGTON — The United States is suspending one of the last major nuclear arms control treaties with Russia after heated conversations between the two powers recently failed to resolve a long-running accusation that Moscow is violating the Reagan-era treaty.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the decision Friday as the Trump administration maintained that the Russian government has been unwilling to admit that a missile it has deployed near European borders violates the terms of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Pompeo and his deputies have insisted that Moscow destroy the missile. Instead, the government of President Vladimir Putin counter-accused the United States of violating the treaty’s terms because of the way in which it has deployed launchers for antiballistic missile systems in Europe.

“Countries must be held accountable when they break the rules,” Pompeo told journalists at the State Department.

But while the U.S. has insisted Russia’s actions sank the treaty, the Trump administration’s real aim is to broaden its prohibitions to include China.

Constrained by the treaty’s provisions, Washington has been prevented from deploying new weapons to counter China’s efforts to cement a dominant position in the Western Pacific and keep U.S. aircraft carriers at bay. China was still a small and unsophisticated military power in the mid-1980s, and not a signatory to the treaty that was negotiated between the U.S. and a rapidly weakening Soviet Union.

By contrast, much of Beijing’s growing nuclear arsenal currently consists of missiles that fall into the distance ranges that are prohibited by the treaty that applies only to Russia and the United States.

“The issue now is whether the administration has a plan for what comes next,” said Pranay Vaddi, a fellow in the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former State Department official who worked on nuclear arms control issues. “There is no question that the Russians committed a violation. But it is not militarily significant because it doesn’t change the balance of power in Europe.”

With the treaty on its last legs, the question is whether Pompeo’s announcement will result in a flurry of last-minute negotiations with Moscow — which seems unlikely — or whether it will accelerate the Cold War-like behavior among the United States, Russia and China.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces that the United States is suspending its role in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, an agreement made in 1987 with the USSR (and, by extension, its successor state Russia) banning both countries from possessing or testing nuclear and conventional intermediate-range missiles, as well as their launchers, citing Russian non-compliance with the treaty.