Kremlin Believes US' Latest Missile Test Proves US Intention To Destroy INF Deal

The Kremlin believes that Washington's recent test of a ballistic missile banned by the collapsed Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty is a proof that the Unites States has long aimed at destroying the deal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th December, 2019) The Kremlin believes that Washington's recent test of a ballistic missile banned by the collapsed Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty is a proof that the Unites States has long aimed at destroying the deal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

The US successfully tested an INF-banned ground-based intermediate-range missile in California on Thursday. US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said that it had taken less then nine months, instead of the usual two years, to go from concept to launch.

"I cannot comment on it anyhow from the technical point of view, regarding the technical characteristics of the missile, but we have repeatedly said that the United States has long been preparing for violating the INF provisions.

This is a speaking proof of the fact that the deal was in fact destroyed at the US initiative, which is regrettable for us," Peskov told reporters.

The INF Treaty, signed by the US and the Soviet Union in 1987, was terminated on August 2 at the US' initiative after it formally suspended its INF obligations six months earlier. Russia has repeatedly dismissed Washington's accusations of violating the agreement.