World War 3: Putin warns US withdrawal from nuclear treaty could RUIN global security
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has warned the US pullout from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) could ruin global security.
By ATHENA CHRYSANTHOU
Express.co.uk
Tue, Dec 18, 2018
At an enlarged board meeting at the Defence Ministry today, President Putin said: “The US statement on withdrawing from the INF treaty causes serious concern. This step may have very negative consequences and will noticeably weaken regional and global security.” He added: “In a perspective, this may actually mean the degradation and even the ruin of the entire architecture of arms control and mass destruction weapons non-proliferation.”
The US and Russia have been part of the INF treaty since 1987 which was signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
It has kept nuclear missiles out of Europe for three decades and required both countries to eliminate all their nuclear missiles with a rage of 500 to 5,500 kilometres.
The treaty was the first time the countries had agreed to reduce their nuclear weapons.
The US and the Soviet Union destroyed 2,696 short, medium and intermediate-range missiles in June 1991 as part of the INF treaty.
According to the US, Russia has been violating the treaty by developing and deploying a new missile called 9M729, which Moscow deny.
President Trump said: “We’re not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons we are not allowed to. We’re the ones that have stayed in the agreement and we’ve honoured the agreement but Russia has not unfortunately honoured the agreement so we’re going to terminate the agreement. We’re going to pull out.”
The Rest…HERE
