Moscow: Russia has condemned US plans to withdraw from a key nuclear weapons treaty and threatened to retaliate over the “very dangerous step”.
On Saturday, President Trump said he intended to “terminate” the three-decade-old 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.
He said Russia had been “violating it for many years”.
The deal banned ground-launched medium-range missiles, with a range of between 500 and 5,500km (310-3,400 miles).
President Trump said the US would not let Russia “go out and do weapons [while] we’re not allowed to”.
“I don’t know why President [Barack] Obama didn’t negotiate or pull out,” the president said of the INF treaty after a campaign rally in Nevada.
In 2014, President Obama accused Russia of breaching the INF after it allegedly tested a ground-launched cruise missile. He reportedly chose not to withdraw from the treaty under pressure from European leaders, who said such a move could restart an arms race.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton is expected to confirm the withdrawal during talks in Moscow later this week.
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