Putin says nuclear treaty can be renegotiated

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty can lead to a collapse of the system of arms control and weapons of mass destruction non-proliferation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

“Whatever are the problems in the INF Treaty, in modern conditions it serves as a stabilizing factor and works to maintain a certain level of predictability and restraint in the military sphere,” Putin said at an expanded meeting of the Defense Ministry Board in Moscow.

Putin said if the problem is a bilateral character of the treaty, it can be expanded by including new countries through negotiations and also a new agreement can be drafted.

If the U.S. decides to pullout from the treaty, Putin said: “I think it is necessary to state once again that we will be forced to take additional measures to strengthen our security."

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was signed in 1987 by then Soviet Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan and was largely designed to stave off the prospects of nuclear war in Europe.

On Oct. 21, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the treaty.