Russia raises concern over latest missile test by US

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia raised alarm on Friday over the U.S. testing of a missile which would have been banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday's missile test was proof that the landmark treaty was ended by Washington.

"We have repeatedly stated that the United States has long been preparing to violate the provisions of the INF treaty. This [missile test] only eloquently confirms that the treaty was actually broken at the initiative of the United States," Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

The U.S. formally withdrew from the INF Treaty in August. Later in the same month the U.S. tested a missile, previously banned under the treaty.

The treaty was signed in 1987 by then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, reducing the chances of a nuclear war in Europe.

Under the treaty, both sides destroyed the whole class of intermediate- and short-range missiles in a span of four years.

International observers fear a fresh arms race in the absence of this landmark treaty.