U.S. pulls out of nuclear arms treaty with Russia

The United States on Friday said it will pull out of a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, blaming Moscow’s noncompliance. In a written statement, U.S. President Donald Trump said Russia violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty “with impunity, covertly developing and fielding a prohibited missile system that poses a direct threat to our allies and troops abroad.” Trump said the United States will suspend its treaty obligations Saturday, initiating a transition period that should take six months.

The INF treaty, signed in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, has been a centerpiece of nuclear nonproliferation since the Cold War. The United States complained for years that Russia was not in compliance with the pact. Trump said his administration will work on “developing our own military response options and will work with NATO and our other allies to deny Russia any military advantage from its unlawful conduct.”