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Moscow will quit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 6 month following the US withdrawal from the Treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on February 6, according to TASS.
“Russia has said everything concerning the INF issue, responding to US’ unfounded allegations,” he said. “President Putin outlined our stance clearly. We will provide a tit-for-tat response. The Americans suspended their participation in the treaty, and we did the same thing, which means that the agreement will be void in six months’ time.”
The foreign minister also commented on US President Donald Trump’s remarks about the possibility of signing a new agreement to replace the INF Treaty.
“Concerning further negotiations on this or other issues related to strategic stability and arms control, there is no shortage of our initiatives on those issues, which we have handed over to our US, Western and NATO counterparts,” Lavrov stated.
Lavrov recalled that, since no response followed, Putin issued instructions to him and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu “to wait until our Western partners are ready to respond to the proposals that had been sent to them long ago.”
