Washington: Following in the footsteps of the United States, Russia will abandon a centrepiece nuclear arms treaty but will only deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles if Washington does so, President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday.

US President Donald Trump accused Moscow of violating the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty with "impunity" by deploying banned missiles.

Trump said in a statement that the US will "move forward" with developing its own military response options to Russia's deployment of banned cruise missiles that could target Western Europe.

Moscow has strongly denied any breaches and accused Washington of making false accusations in order to justify its pullout.</s>MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin says that Russia will abandon a centerpiece nuclear arms treaty, following in the footsteps of the United States, and that Moscow will only deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles if Washington does so.

Putin spoke after the U.S. announced Friday it was pulling the plug on the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty over alleged Russian violations. Moscow denied any breaches and accused Washington of making false accusations in order to justify its pullout.

Following the U.S. notice of withdrawal from the treaty in six months, Putin said in televised remarks Saturday that Russia will do the same. He ordered the development of new land-based intermediate-range weapons, but emphasized that Russia won't deploy them in the European part of the country or elsewhere unless the U.S. does so.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is pulling the plug on a decades-old nuclear arms treaty with Russia, lifting what it sees as unreasonable constraints on competing with a resurgent Russia and a more assertive China. The move announced Friday sets the stage for delicate talks with U.S. allies over potential new American missile deployments.

In explaining his decision, which he had foreshadowed months ago, President Donald Trump accused Moscow of violating the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty with "impunity" by deploying banned missiles. Moscow denies it is in violation and has accused Washington of resisting its efforts to resolve the dispute.

Democrats in Congress and some arms control advocates criticized Trump's decision as opening the door to an arms race.

"The U.S. threat to terminate the treaty will not bring Russia back into compliance and could unleash a dangerous and costly new missile competition between the United States and Russia in Europe and beyond," the private Arms Control Association said. It argued that Washington had not exhausted options for drawing Russia back into compliance.

Trump said in a statement that the U.S. will "move forward" with developing its own military response options to Russia's banned deployment of cruise missiles that could target western Europe.

"We cannot be the only country in the world unilaterally bound by this treaty, or any other," Trump said. Other officials said the treaty could still be saved if Russia reverses course and returns to compliance, but that window of opportunity will close in six months when the American withdrawal is due to take effect.

The Trump decision reflects his administration's view that the arms treaty was an unacceptable obstacle to more forcefully confronting not only Russia but also China. China's military has grown mightily since the treaty was signed, and the pact has prevented the U.S. from deploying weapons to counter some of those being developed in Beijing.

Leaving the INF pact, however, risks aggravating relations with European allies, who share the administration's view that Russia is violating the treaty but who have not endorsed a U.S. withdrawal.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking to reporters after Trump's statement, said Russia will be formally notified on Saturday that the U.S. is withdrawing from the treaty, effective in six months. In the meantime, starting Saturday, the U.S. will suspend its obligations under the treaty.

Pompeo said that if, in the coming six months, Russia accepts U.S. demands that it verifiably destroy the cruise missiles that Washington claims are a violation, then the treaty can be saved. If it does not, "the treaty terminates," he said.

Administration officials have dismissed concerns that the treaty's demise could trigger a race to develop and deploy more intermediate-range missiles. U.S. officials have emphasized their fear that China, which is not party to the treaty, is gaining a significant military advantage in Asia by deploying large numbers of missiles with ranges beyond the treaty's limit. Whether the U.S. will now respond by deploying INF noncompliant missiles in Asia is unclear. In any case, it seems unlikely Beijing would agree to any negotiated limits on its weaponry.

Russia accused the U.S. of unilaterally seeking to neuter the treaty.

"I 'congratulate' the whole world; the United States has taken another step toward its destruction today," said Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia's upper house of parliament.

INF was the first arms control measure to ban an entire class of weapons: ground-launched cruise missiles with a range between 500 kilometers (310 miles) and 5,500 kilometers (3,400 miles). At the time, in the late stages of the Cold War, the U.S. and its allies were mainly concerned by the perceived threat of Russian medium-range nuclear missiles that were targeted at Europe. The U.S. deployed similar missiles in response, in the 1980s, leading to negotiations that produced the INF treaty.

Rep. Adam Smith, a Washington state Democrat and new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, blasted Trump for raising the risk of nuclear war.

"The administration's ideological aversion to arms control as a tool for advancing national security is endangering our safety, as well as that of our allies and partners," Smith said. "The risk of miscalculation or misunderstanding is already higher than at any point since the end of the Cold War, and this decision only makes it worse."

U.S. officials say they have little reason to think Moscow will change its stance in the next six months.

"We have raised Russia's noncompliance with Russian officials — including at the highest levels of government — more than 30 times," Pompeo said. "We have provided Russia an ample window of time to mend its way. Tomorrow that time runs out."

Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press that Russia can still save the treaty by returning to compliance before the U.S. withdrawal takes effect.

"But at the same time, we have started to assess the consequences, look into options," Stoltenberg said. "We need to make sure that we respond as an alliance, all 29 allies, because all allies are involved and all allies are affected."

Trump said his administration will move forward with developing military response options. But senior Trump administration officials said they don't expect any immediate testing or deployment of weapons that are banned under the treaty. The current Pentagon budget includes $48 million for research on potential military responses to the alleged Russian violations, but U.S. officials said the options do not include a nuclear missile.

The officials, speaking after Trump's announcement, said the U.S. is not in position to flight test, let alone deploy, INF noncompliant missiles as a counter to Russia any time soon. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.

One official said allies will be consulted before any decisions are made on responding to any Russian missiles.

Leaving the treaty would allow the Trump administration to counter the Chinese, but it's unclear how it would do that. U.S. security concerns are complicated by what U.S. intelligence officials earlier this week called efforts by China and Russia to expand their global influence, particularly in Asia and the Middle East.

"China and Russia are more aligned than at any point since the mid-1950s, and the relationship is likely to strengthen in the coming years as some of their interests and threat perceptions converge," Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said in testimony Tuesday to Congress.</s>Some analysts worry the demise of the centerpiece of superpower arms control could fuel a new arms race. U.S. officials fear that China, which is not party to the treaty, is gaining a significant military advantage in Asia by deploying large numbers of missiles with ranges beyond the treaty's limit.

Trump said the U.S. will "suspend its obligations" under the treaty on Saturday, meaning it will be freed from its constraints that included the banning of testing and deployment of missiles. At the same time, the U.S. will begin withdrawing from the treaty, which will be effective in six months, he said.

An American withdrawal had been expected for months after years of unresolved dispute over Russian compliance with the pact. It was the first arms control measure to ban an entire class of weapons: ground-launched cruise missiles with a range between 500 kilometers (310 miles) and 5,500 kilometers (3,400 miles).

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in early December that Washington would give Moscow 60 days to return to compliance before it gave formal notice of withdrawal. The 60-day deadline expires Saturday.

Technically, a U.S. withdrawal would take effect six months after this week's notification, leaving a small window for saving the treaty. However, in talks this week in Beijing, the U.S. and Russia reported no breakthrough in their dispute, leaving little reason to think either side would change its stance on whether a Russian cruise missile violates the pact.

"We have raised Russia's noncompliance with Russian officials — including at the highest levels of government — more than 30 times," Pompeo told reporters Friday at the State Department. "We have provided Russia an ample window of time to mend its way. Tomorrow that time runs out."

Sergei Ryabkov, a Russian deputy foreign minister, said there was no progress after the Beijing talks Thursday.

"The position of the American side is very tough and like an ultimatum," he said, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.

NATO said that if Moscow failed to destroy all new missile systems that Washington insists violate the treaty, "Russia will bear sole responsibility for the end of the treaty." Russia denies that it has been in violation.

Trump said his administration "will move forward with developing our own military response options."

But senior Trump administration officials said they don't expect any immediate testing or deployment of weapons that are banned under the treaty.

The officials, speaking after Trump's announcement, said the U.S. is not in position to flight test, let alone deploy, INF noncompliant missiles as a counter to Russia any time soon. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.

One official said that only non-nuclear missiles are being considered for future development and potential deployment, and that allies will be closely consulted before any decisions are made on countering the Russian missiles that allegedly violate the INF treaty.

Leaving the treaty would allow the Trump administration to counter the Chinese, but it's unclear how it would do that.

"The strategic rationale for leaving the INF seriously involves China," said Behnam Ben Taleblu, a defense expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank.

He noted the quality and quantity of Chinese ground-based missiles and growing prospects for Chinese and American conflict in the Asia-Pacific.

Taleblu said staying in the pact meant the U.S. was "voluntarily fighting with one hand tied behind its back."

U.S. withdrawal raises the prospect of further deterioration in U.S.-Russian relations, which already are arguably at the lowest point in decades, and debate among U.S. allies in Europe over whether Russia's alleged violations warrant a countermeasure such as deployment of an equivalent American missile in Europe. The U.S. has no nuclear-capable missiles based in Europe; the last of that type and range were withdrawn in line with the INF treaty.

Nuclear weapons experts at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace say U.S. withdrawal under current circumstances would be counterproductive, even though Russia's violations are a serious problem.

"Leaving the INF treaty will unleash a new missile competition between the United States and Russia," they said in a statement.

Associated Press writer Lynn Berry contributed to this report.</s>Following the U.S. notice of withdrawal from the treaty in six months, Putin said in televised remarks Saturday that Russia will do the same. He ordered the development of new land-based intermediate-range weapons, but emphasized that Russia won’t deploy them in the European part of the country or elsewhere unless the U.S. does so.</s>Moscow and Washington have long accused the other of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces agreement, which was signed in 1987 and resolved a crisis over Soviet missiles.

President Donald Trump last year announced plans to withdraw unless Russia fulfilled its obligations.

"Our American partners have announced they are suspending their participation in the deal, and we are also suspending our participation," Putin said of the agreement, following a US deadline for cooperation.

Putin said during a televised meeting with foreign and defence ministers Sergei Lavrov and Sergei Shoigu that Russia would no longer initiate talks with the US on disarmament.

"We will wait until our partners have matured enough to conduct an equal, meaningful dialogue with us on this important topic," the president said.

Brokered by US president Ronald Reagan with last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the treaty ended a superpower buildup of warheads that had frightened Europeans.

It banned ground-launched missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres.

The deal addressed Soviet nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles targeting Western capitals, but put no restrictions on other major military actors such as China.

President Donald Trump said Friday that Washington was starting a process to withdraw from the agreement in six months.

Trump said he would like to "get everybody in a big and beautiful room and do a new treaty," but in the meantime, the United States "can't be put at a disadvantage."

 

 Disputed missile

 

 The US in December gave Moscow a 60-day deadline to dismantle missiles it said breached the agreement.

But Moscow has insisted the disputed 9M729 missile is allowed under the treaty. The defence ministry last month invited journalists and foreign military attaches to a briefing on the weapon system.

Lavrov on Saturday repeated Russian accusations that Washington itself has been in violation of the deal for many years.

The foreign minister said Russia had "tried everything to save the treaty" in several rounds of diplomatic talks.

Putin meanwhile said Russia would seek to develop medium-range missiles in response to what he said were similar projects in the US.

He has previously warned of proliferation of weapons but on Saturday told the ministers Russia would "not be drawn into a costly new arms race".

Russia would only deploy intermediate- and short-range missiles in Europe or elsewhere in answer to similar moves from the US, he added.

European leaders have voiced fears over the consequences of the treaty's demise and called on Russia to address concerns before the United States formally leaves in August.

Beijing on Saturday also expressed concern over the mutual suspension, calling for the US and Russia to engage in "constructive dialogue".

China's foreign ministry has ruled out the possibility of negotiating a new multilateral pact that includes Beijing.

NATO earlier said that US allies "fully support" its withdrawal and agreed that Russia's 9M729 ground-launched cruise missile systems, whose range is the cause of US concerns, violated the treaty.

Lavrov at Saturday's meeting voiced concerns that Washington's decision to withdraw from the INF could jeopardise the extension of the New START treaty.

That agreement, which caps the number of nuclear warheads held by Washington and Moscow, expires in 2021.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is poised to announce Friday that it is withdrawing from a treaty that has been a centerpiece of superpower arms control since the Cold War and whose demise some analysts worry could fuel a new arms race.

An American withdrawal, which has been expected for months, would follow years of unresolved dispute over Russian compliance with the pact, known as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, treaty. It was the first arms control measure to ban an entire class of weapons: ground-launched cruise missiles with a range between 500 kilometers (310 miles) and 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles). Russia denies that it has been in violation.

U.S. officials also have expressed worry that China, which is not party to the 1987 treaty, is gaining a significant military advantage in Asia by deploying large numbers of missiles with ranges beyond the treaty’s limit. Leaving the INF treaty would allow the Trump administration to counter the Chinese, but it’s unclear how it would do that.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in early December that Washington would give Moscow 60 days to return to compliance before it gave formal notice of withdrawal, with actual withdrawal taking place six months later. The 60-day deadline expires on Saturday, and the administration is expected to say as early as Friday that efforts to work out a compliance deal have failed and that it would suspend its compliance with the treaty’s terms.

The State Department said Pompeo would make a public statement on Friday morning, but it did not mention the topic.

In a tweet Thursday, the chief spokeswoman for NATO, Oana Lungescu, said there are no signs of getting a compliance deal with Russia.

“So we must prepare for a world without the Treaty,” she wrote.

Technically, a U.S. withdrawal would take effect six months after this week’s notification, leaving a small window for saving the treaty. However, in talks this week in Beijing, the U.S. and Russia reported no breakthrough in their dispute, leaving little reason to think either side would change its stance on whether a Russian cruise missile violates the pact.

A Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, was quoted by the Russian state news agency Tass as saying after the Beijing talks Thursday, “Unfortunately, there is no progress. The position of the American side is very tough and like an ultimatum.” He said he expects Washington now to suspend its obligations under the treaty, although he added that Moscow remains ready to “search for solutions” that could keep the treaty in force.

U.S. withdrawal raises the prospect of further deterioration in U.S.-Russian relations, which already are arguably at the lowest point in decades, and debate among U.S. allies in Europe over whether Russia’s alleged violations warrant a countermeasure such as deployment of an equivalent American missile in Europe. The U.S. has no nuclear-capable missiles based in Europe; the last of that type and range were withdrawn in line with the INF treaty.

The prospect of U.S. withdrawal from the INF pact has stirred concern globally. The mayor of Des Moines, Iowa, Frank Cownie, is among dozens of local officials and lawmakers in the U.S., Canada, Europe and elsewhere who signed a letter this week to President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing worry at the “unraveling” of the INF treaty and other arms constraints.

“Withdrawing from treaties takes a step in the wrong direction,” Cownie said in a telephone interview. “It’s wasn’t just Des Moines, Iowa. It’s people from all around this country that are concerned about the future of our cities, of our country, of this planet.”

The American ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison, set the rhetorical stage for Washington’s withdrawal announcement by asserting Thursday that Russia has been in violation for years, including in Ukraine. She said in a tweet and a video message about the INF treaty that Russia is to blame for its demise.

“Russia consistently refuses to acknowledge its violation and continues to push disinformation and false narratives regarding its illegal missile,” she said. “When only one party respects an arms control treaty while the other side flaunts it, it leaves one side vulnerable, no one is safer, and (it) discredits the very idea of arms control.”

Nuclear weapons experts at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said in a statement this week that while Russia’s violation of the INF treaty is a serious problem, U.S. withdrawal under current circumstances would be counterproductive.

“Leaving the INF treaty will unleash a new missile competition between the United States and Russia,” they said.

Kingston Reif, director for disarmament at the Arms Control Association, said Thursday the Trump administration has failed to exhaust diplomatic options to save the treaty. What’s more, “it has no strategy to prevent Russia from building and fielding even more intermediate-range missiles in the absence of the agreement.”

Reif said the period between now and August, when the U.S. withdrawal would take effect, offers a last chance to save the treaty, but he sees little prospect of that happening. He argues that Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, is “unlikely to miss the opportunity to kill an agreement he has long despised.”

Associated Press writer Lynn Berry contributed to this report.</s>Russia has suspended the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty after a similar move by the United States, President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday.

"The American partners have declared that they suspend their participation in the deal, we suspend it as well," Putin said during a televised meeting with foreign and defense ministers.

The United States announced on Friday it will withdraw from the INF treaty with Russia in six months unless Moscow ends what it says are violations of the landmark 1987 arms control pact.

Putin said Russia will start work on creating new missiles, including hypersonic ones, and told ministers not to initiate disarmament talks with Washington.</s>Germany said Friday that Russia had “de facto invalidated” a landmark Cold War missile reduction treaty which the US is poised to abandon, with Europe anxious at the prospect of a new arms race.

A US deadline for Russia to come back into compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty expires on Saturday but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will reportedly announce the pullout as early as Friday.

Western capitals say a new Russian medium-range missile system breaches the terms of the 1987 treaty and puts European cities at risk.

Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister who has shuttled between Moscow and Washington in recent weeks trying to save the INF treaty, said Russia was still in breach.

“We must note that the INF treaty has been violated by the Russian side and that the appeals of the last 60 days for more transparency and more information have come to nothing,” Maas said as he arrived for talks with fellow EU foreign ministers in Bucharest.

“A treaty to which two contracting states belong and which has been violated by one side has de facto been invalidated”.

Lithuania and Latvia — Baltic states keenly aware of the threat from their giant neighbour Russia — backed Washington’s expected withdrawal.

“Treaties are important if parties are complying to the treaties. If there are breaches, the value of the treaty is questioned,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said, adding there was “clear evidence” of Russia breaching the treaty.

The INF accord, signed by then US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, banned ground-launched missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres and ended a dangerous build-up of warheads in Europe.

Russia on Friday said it regretted Washington’s planned exit from the treaty and expected to receive formal notice from the United States shortly.

“We all regret that in the coming days this decision will most likely be implemented,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

“A decision to move to break the treaty was made in Washington a long time ago.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of a new arms race if the treaty collapses — a prospect that has alarmed some European nations.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini called for the treaty to be preserved “with full compliance” from both sides.

“What we definitely don’t want to see is our continent going back to being a battlefield or place where other superpowers confront themselves — this belongs to a faraway history,” she said.

“This clear lesson is whenever there was a conflict between east and west, we central Europeans always lost,” he said.

“We as Hungary I don’t think we have too much leverage in this issue. We can just cross fingers for a more pragmatic cooperation between east and west.”

To add further to Europe’s worries, Moscow’s top INF negotiator, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, warned that after the collapse of the treaty another key arms control agreement — the New START treaty — could follow.

That agreement, which caps the number of nuclear warheads held by Washington and Moscow, expires in 2021 and Ryabkov said there was a “big question” over what would happen next.

Pompeo announced in December that the US would start the six-month process to quit the INF if Russia did not withdraw its 9M729 missile system by February 2, using the period to start work on new missiles.

While all 29 NATO allies have endorsed the US view that Russia is in breach of the treaty, differences have emerged over how to respond.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said withdrawing was “not the right response”, arguing that leaving the treaty would not “succeed in putting more pressure” on Moscow.

Asked if Russia was to blame for the INF being in jeopardy, Karin Kneissl, the Austrian foreign minister, who is close to Putin, said it was “a bit more complicated” than that, pointing to Moscow’s concerns about China, which is not bound by the treaty.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has said military commanders will begin preparing for “a world without an INF treaty” but insisted the alliance was still committed to arms reduction.

Russia insists the missile system complies with the treaty, and displayed it to foreign military officials and media last week in a bid to allay concerns.</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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suspends Russia's involvement in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and will now start developing new missiles, in response to the United States' decision to withdraw from the Cold War-era treaty.