Russia is not letting the United States pull out of a nuclear arms treaty without repercussions. US President Donald Trump has announced his intention to withdraw the nation from the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, alarming Russian officials, including former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Russian officials did not mince their words in condemning President Donald Trump's announcement that the United States will withdraw from the treaty prohibiting it and Russia from owning, making, and test-flying ground-lunched nuclear cruise missiles, capable of traveling 500 to 5,500 kilometers or 300 to 3,400 miles. The treaty was signed in 1987 by the Soviet Union with President Ronald Reagan. This was back in the Cold War Era.
According to the Russian officials, the United States just risked chaos with its actions. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a state news agency Tass that the United States leaving the treaty would constitute "a dangerous step." He explained that Donald Trump merely caused the United States to be the brunt of serious condemnation from "all members of the international community who are committed to security and stability."
Konstantin Kosachev, who is the head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia's upper house of parliament, asserted that the United States just put the whole world, or mankind in the brink of full chaos in relation to nuclear warfare.
On the part of other western nations, however, reactions ranged from positive, negative and neutral. According to Financial Times, British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson reportedly announced UK's absolute support of the United States, requesting Russia to get itself in order first. Germany is more neutral about the matter, with Foreign Minister Heiko Maas claiming that Trump is indeed causing problems for the United States and Europe but also agreeing that Russia itself has not cleared up allegations of treaty violations completely.
The decision to withdraw was prompted by Trump's convictions that Russia has violated the terms of the treaty. Russia, on the other hand, has denied again and again that it has violated the deal, claiming it has never developed and tested a missile prohibited under the agreement.
In his announcement, Trump also named China as another nation developing weapons, even though this is not a signatory of the said Treaty. Given that Russia and China are producing weapons, Trump does not see any fair reason for it not to as well.
Conversely, Russia itself has already threatened to leave the treaty in 2007, accusing the United States of the one violating the agreement and developing the banned weapons.
