The United States leaves the Soviet-era nuclear missile agreement to accelerate its missile program

While Washington strongly accused Moscow of ending the middle-range Nuclear forces (INF) Treaty, President Donald Trump said that any new disarmament pact would also require China's adherence.

Washington:

The United States promised to improve its ballistic missile and cruise missile capabilities while Friday's collapse of the Cold War nuclear pact with Russia raised fears of a new arms race.

While Washington strongly accused Moscow of ending the middle-range Nuclear forces (INF) Treaty, President Donald Trump said that any new disarmament pact would also require China's adherence.

Russia, in turn, accused the United States of making a "serious mistake" by turning its back on the INF, which the United Nations said had played a crucial role in maintaining peace and stability for more than three decades.

The pact was widely proclaimed as a beacon of hope when it was signed in 1987 by US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev when they agreed to limit the use of medium-range nuclear and conventional missiles.

But its collapse had been predicted for months as relations between Russia and the United States deteriorated.

"Russia alone is responsible for the end of the treaty," said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement confirming Washington's official withdrawal. A few minutes after Russia also declared the cancellation of the agreement.

NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg quickly rejected Russia's suggestion of a moratorium, while maintaining that the 29-nation transatlantic alliance did not want a resumption of the battle for military supremacy.

"We will not reflect what Russia is doing," Stoltenberg said at a press conference in Brussels.

"We do not want a new arms race. And we do not intend to deploy new nuclear missiles based in Europe," he said.

But the uneasiness was clear in European capitals. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed its concern about the collapse of this treaty "which increases the risk of instability in Europe and erodes the international arms control system".

"Europe must not become the scene of a new arms race", said Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.

Trump's new Secretary of Defense said, however, that the United States had already begun work on the development of "ground-launched conventional, mobile and cruise ballistic missile systems".

As the US has "scrupulously complied" with its INF obligations while it was a party to the treaty, "these programs are in their infancy," Esper said.

"Now that we have withdrawn, the Ministry of Defence will fully pursue the development of these ground-launched conventional missiles, as a prudent response to Russia's actions," he added, without specifying where the missiles could be placed.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Washington made a "serious mistake" by withdrawing from the treaty, adding that the United States had launched a "propaganda campaign" accusing Russia of violating the agreement.

'Serious error'

Under this agreement, missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 km have been eliminated.

This paved the way for the neutralization of Russian SS-20 and American Pershing missiles deployed in Europe.

For years, Washington accused Russia of developing a new type of missile, the 9M729, that would violate the treaty, claiming that NATO had saved it.

According to NATO, the missile has a range of about 1,500 kilometres, although Moscow can only cover 480 kilometres.

The White House has launched a six-month withdrawal procedure to leave the treaty in February.

Shortly thereafter, Moscow began to withdraw and last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially suspended his participation.

The INF Treaty was considered the cornerstone of the global arms control architecture.

But the United States accused Russia of repeated violations and said that the bilateral pact had given the other countries-China - every latitude to develop their own long - range missiles.

Trump reiterated on Friday that he wants China to join any new treaty as well.

"We would certainly like to include China at some point," Trump told the press. "It would be good for the world."

The US-China tensions - mainly related to trade and maritime disputes-were the focus of the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian nations in Bangkok this week, where Pompeo peddled Washington's "Indo-Pacific" strategy to counter Beijing's economic and military power in Asia.

Pompeo said on Friday that the US "is seeking a new era of arms control that goes beyond the bilateral treaties of the past", while calling on Beijing to join the discussions.

The INF agreement was considered one of the two main arms contracts between Russia and the United States, the other being the New START treaty, which keeps the nuclear arsenals of the two countries well below their Cold War summits.

This agreement will expire in 2021 and there seems to be little political will on the part of Moscow or Washington to renew it, according to experts.
China has already rejected US calls to join the New START treaty in the future.