Donald Trump’s national security adviser is to hold two days of talks
in Moscow after the US president announced his intention to withdraw
from a landmark nuclear weapons treaty.
Mr Trump’s announcement
that the US would leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF,
treaty brought sharp criticism from Russian officials and former Soviet
president Mikhail Gorbachev, who signed the treaty in 1987 with Ronald
Reagan.
Mr Trump said Russia has violated terms of the treaty that
prohibit the US and Russia from possessing, producing or test-flying
ground-launched nuclear cruise missiles with a range of 300 to 3,400
miles.
Russia has repeatedly denied allegations that it has produced and tested such a missile.
US
national security adviser John Bolton and Russian President Vladimir
Putin will meet on Tuesday. On Monday, Mr Bolton meets Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that leaving the treaty “would be a very dangerous step”.
It
would “cause the most serious condemnation from all members of the
international community who are committed to security and stability”, he
said.
Konstatin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee
in Russia’s upper house of parliament, said that a US withdrawal from
the treaty would mean “mankind is facing full chaos in the nuclear
weapons sphere”.
British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said the UK stands
“absolutely resolute” with Washington on the issue and called on the
Kremlin to “get its house in order”.
German Foreign Minister
Heiko Maas said that Mr Trump’s announcement “raises difficult questions
for us and Europe,” but noted that Russia has not cleared up
allegations of violating the treaty.
The prospect of withdrawing
from the INF adds to the substantial tensions between Washington and
Moscow, including allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016
presidential election and sanctions imposed over Russia’s involvement in
the eastern Ukraine conflict.
On Friday, the US announced criminal charges against a Russian for alleged attempts to influence next month’s midterm elections.
The
treaty helps protect the security of the US and its allies in Europe
and the Far East, but has constrained the US. from developing new
weapons.
The U.S. will begin developing them unless Russia and
China agree not to possess or develop the weapons, Mr Trump said. China
is not a party to the pact.
“We’ll have to develop those weapons,
unless Russia comes to us and China comes to us and they all come to us
and say ‘let’s really get smart and let’s none of us develop those
weapons,’ but if Russia’s doing it and if China’s doing it, and we’re
adhering to the agreement, that’s unacceptable,” he said.
Mr Trump
did not provide details about violations but in 2017, White House
national security officials said Russia had deployed a cruise missile in
violation of the treaty.
Earlier, the Obama administration
accused the Russians of violating the pact by developing and testing a
prohibited cruise missile.
Russia has repeatedly denied that it has violated the treaty and has accused the US of not being in compliance.
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