MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/. Russia has never violated its obligations under the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty and it remains committed to this document, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in the wake of claims by the US Department of State Washington had asked Moscow to either scrap the 9M729 missile system or modify it.
"Russia has not violated the INF Treaty and its remains committed to its obligations. As for the technological nuances, you should get information in response to the US Department of State’s statement either from the Russian Foreign Ministry or Defense Ministry," Peskov said.
The Soviet Union and the United States signed the INF Treaty in Washington on December 8, 1987. For the first time the United States accused Russia of violating the INF Treaty in July 2014. From that moment on Washington repeated its claims many times. Moscow strongly disagreed with them and put forward its own counterclaims over the United States’ non-compliance.
US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said after a meeting of NATO’s foreign ministers in Brussels on December 4 that Washington would drop the INF Treaty if Russia failed to resume compliance within a sixty-day deadline. US Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control Andrea Thomson said on Thursday that the United States had suggested Russia should either scrap its 9M729 missile or modify it in a verifiable way, thus getting back to the INF Treaty terms.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told the media on December 5 that the United States had presented no proof Moscow was in breach of the INF Treaty. Russia is against ruining this treaty, but it will have to respond properly in case of the United States’ pullout, he warned.