MOSCOW, November 19./TASS/. Russia is not the reason behind the US plans to withdraw from the INF Treaty, this comes because the treaty prevents it from dominating in the military sector, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Monday.
"If and when the US quits the treaty, we will see rather quickly that this was done not for the reason of some lawless behavior on the part of Russia, but strictly because the US needs these systems to maintain its military superiority or to achieve it in different parts of the globe," Ryabkov said.
"So, the logic is the opposite: it is the treaty that prevents the US from dominating in the military sector, and not because somebody is acting in defiance of the treaty, making it impossible for the US to stay in it," the diplomat said.
US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson said on November 15 that the US administration has not made a final decision as of yet as to whether Washington should withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
US President Donald Trump said on October 20 that his country would quit the INF Treaty because Russia was allegedly in breach of that agreement. Washington was criticized in Berlin and Beijing. In the meantime, London came out in support of the United States and NATO placed the responsibility for Trump’s decision on Russia, because in its opinion Moscow had apparently violated the treaty.
The INF Treaty was signed on December 8, 1987 and took effect on June 1, 1988. It outlawed deployed and non-deployed intermediate range (1,000-5,000 kilometers) and shorter range (500-1,000 kilometers) ground-based missiles. In recent years Washington has repeatedly alleged Russia was in breach of the agreement. Moscow emphatically dismissed the charges and countered them with its own claims over the United States’ non-compliance.