Washington’s intention to quit the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty creates challenges to Moscow’s and Minsk’s security and requires a proper response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after a joint board meeting of the Russian and Belarussian foreign ministries on Wednesday, TASS reports.
"We expressed concern over soaring tension in Europe, which is largely a result of NATO’s soaring military activity near our borders and Washington’s declared intention to quit the INF Treaty. It goes without saying that this creates challenges to our security, which requires a corresponding response by the Union State and by the Collective Security Treaty Organization," Lavrov said.
US President Donald Trump on October 20 and 22 declared in public the United States’ intention to quit the INF Treaty. There has been no formal notification from Washington to Moscow yet.
For the first time the United States accused Russia of violating the treaty back in July 2014. Washington has since repeated the accusations many a time. Moscow strongly disagreed and put forward its own counter-claims regarding the United States non-compliance with the INF Treaty, signed in Washington on December 8, 1987.