Trump formally suspends US role in missile treaty with Russia
- US leaves Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces pact after years of unresolved dispute over Russia’s compliance
The United States is suspending its participation in a key arms control agreement with Russia, the Trump administration announced Friday.
The decision to halt the US role in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty has raised concerns about a renewed arms race with Moscow. But it’s not a surprise: The Trump administration has been signalling for months that it will walk away from the treaty, alleging that Russia has not met its obligations under the agreement for years.
“Countries must be held accountable when they break the rules,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a news conference. “Russia has jeopardised the United States’ security interests, and we can no longer be restricted by the treaty while Russia shamelessly violates it.”
President Donald Trump, too, issued a warning to Russia that hinted at another concern: That China, too, wants to take advantage of the existence of the treaty to surge ahead in its own missile capabilities.
“We cannot be the only country in the world unilaterally bound by this treaty, or any other,” Trump said in a statement. “We will move forward with developing our own military response options and will work with Nato and our other allies and partners to deny Russia any military advantage from its unlawful conduct.”
The landmark 1987 treaty required the United States and what was then the Soviet Union to “eliminate and permanently forswear all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500km,” according to the Arms Control Association.
