The United States believes it makes “no sense” to comply with a major arms-control pact without Russia’s buy-in, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has said one month after warning that Washington could exit the treaty.
The 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty bars Moscow and Washington from stationing short and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe. Pompeo delivered an ultimatum on Dec. 4 that Russia comply with the INF treaty by Feb. 4 or face a United States withdrawal.
“Unfortunately, the Russians have made no effort to comply with the treaty,” he told the conservative American news channel Newsmax TV Thursday.
“It makes no sense for a treaty with two parties, only one of whom is complying, for us to stay in that,” Pompeo said.
The Kremlin denies violating the INF treaty.
President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow would retaliate if the United States pulled out of the 31-year-old missile accord and American missiles appeared in Europe.
Last month Putin accused the United States of raising the risk of nuclear war by threatening to leave the INF treaty and refusing to hold talks about the New START pact that limits nuclear warhead numbers and which expires in 2021.
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