The United States will withdraw from a landmark Cold War arms-control pact on Friday, six months after the Trump administration declared Russia in material breach of the treaty and said Moscow hadn't made an effort to return to compliance.
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"Russia is solely responsible for the treaty’s demise," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Friday. "The United States will not remain party to a treaty that is deliberately violated by Russia."
The secretary of state, currently in Bangkok for a summit between Asian countries, tweeted out comment on the end of the treaty immediately after it ended.
On Feb 2nd, 2019 the U.S. gave Russia six months to return to compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Russia refused, so the treaty ends today. The U.S. will not remain party to a treaty when others violate it. Russia bears sole responsibility.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) August 2, 2019
Pompeo first put Moscow on notice in December after NATO's foreign ministers issued a joint declaration that a new Russian missile system had violated the pact signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Shortly after the declaration, Pompeo gave Russia a 60-day deadline to return to compliance.
In February, the Trump administration officially began the six-month withdrawal process, notifying Moscow of its intent to leave the treaty, but leaving the door open to staying if Russia agreed to comply.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government have long denied violating the pact, which banned ground-launched cruise missiles with a range between 310 and 3,100 miles -- whether nuclear-armed or conventional.
The Obama administration first accused Russia of violating the INF Treaty in 2013, specifically pointing to the development and deployment of the 9M729 missile system. Despite top-level appeals from the U.S. on multiple occasions, Russia denied the system existed, before later saying it didn't violate the treaty's terms.
"To date, Russia has produced and fielded multiple battalions of the 9M729 ground-launched cruise missile, throughout Russia, in violation of the INF Treaty, including missiles fielded in western Russia with the ability to strike critical European targets," a senior administration official said Thursday.