The former leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev has called on President Donald Trump not to withdraw from the decades-old arms treaty with Russia, The Hill reported Sunday.
The so-called Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) was negotiated by Gorbachev and former President Ronald Reagan in 1986, eliminating all nuclear and conventional missiles, as well as their launchers, with ranges of 310 to 3,420 miles.
President Trump confirmed over the weekend that the United States would indeed exit the treaty, arguing that Russia has violated it on multiple occasions since 2014. The former Russian leader said in response that withdrawing from the INF was “a mistake.”
“Under no circumstances should we tear up old disarmament agreements. … Do they really not understand in Washington what this could lead to?” Gorbachev said.
National Security Adviser John Bolton, who is to travel to Moscow later this week, is expected to inform Russian President Vladimir Putin of the U.S. withdrawal. Putin, a spokesperson for the Kremlin said, will seek more answers from Bolton.
The move has likewise been opposed by top Russian officials, including Sergei Ryabkov, the country’s deputy foreign minister who said the withdrawal was a form of “blackmail.”
“We condemn the continuing attempts to achieve Russia’s concessions through blackmail, moreover in such an issue which has importance for international security and security in the nuclear weapons sphere, for maintaining strategic stability,” he said on Sunday.
Ryabkov added that the move would be dangerous and would “arouse serious condemnation of all members of the world community.”
Since being signed, the arms treaty has resulted in the destruction of about 2,690 missiles. It allows the United States to counter Chinese efforts to amass arms in the Pacific, but bans the country from deploying new weapons in response.
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