In another move that is counter to the Democrats narrative on Russia, President Trump has removed the United States from a cold war nuclear missile treaty with Russia.
According to Town Hall:
The White House announced Friday morning the United States is pulling out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty with Russia after repeated violations by the Kremlin.
“For far too long, Russia has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with impunity, covertly developing and fielding a prohibited missile system that poses a direct threat to our allies and troops abroad,” President Trump said in a statement. “Tomorrow, the United States will suspend its obligations under the INF Treaty and begin the process of withdrawing from the INF Treaty, which will be completed in 6 months unless Russia comes back into compliance by destroying all of its violating missiles, launchers, and associated equipment. Our NATO Allies fully support us, because they understand the threat posed by Russia’s violation and the risks to arms control posed by ignoring treaty violations.”
The United States gave Russia a 60-day period to comply with the treaty back in December. That opportunity was ignored and therefore, America is getting out.
“The United States has fully adhered to the INF Treaty for more than 30 years, but we will not remain constrained by its terms while Russia misrepresents its actions. We cannot be the only country in the world unilaterally bound by this treaty, or any other. We will move forward with developing our own military response options and will work with NATO and our other allies and partners to deny Russia any military advantage from its unlawful conduct,” Trump said.
This morning, @SecPompeo delivered remarks to the media on the #INFTreaty. pic.twitter.com/KHVPSKPAOI
— Department of State (@StateDept) February 1, 2019
The administration seems to be using this as an opportunity to reengage in negotiations with Russia that will hopefully strengthen the relationship moving forward.
