US leaving missile-treaty to 'get out of its obligations': Russia
Moscow denounced Washington's decision to leave a landmark Cold War nuclear missile treaty yesterday, saying it was part of a plan to "get out of its international legal obligations". The US exit wasn't a question of "Russia's guilt" but is instead "the strategy of the United States to get out of its international legal obligations in different areas," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
US President Donald Trump had earlier said the United States was suspending its obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) as of Saturday and had started a process to withdraw in six months. Washington says that a new Russian medium-range missile system breaches the 1987 treaty, a claim that Moscow has vigorously denied by saying that the US hadn't provided any proof.
Commenting on the claims by the United States, Zakharova said the US had provided "no evidence, no satellite photo" to prove that Russia had violated the treaty. She insisted Russia had "always agreed to hold talks on the INF Treaty". Zakharova also warned if the US "really leaves the INF Treaty, Moscow reserves the right to an appropriate response".
