German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a phone talk about the need for tighter coordination with European partners on the issues related to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), the ministry said on Tuesday.
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd October, 2018) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a phone talk about the need for tighter coordination with European partners on the issues related to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), the ministry said on Tuesday.
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump announced that Washington would withdraw from the INF treaty, accusing Russia of violating it. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that US withdrawal would force Russia to take steps to ensure its security.
"Foreign Minister Heiko Maas today had a phone talk with his US counterpart Mike Pompeo on the subject of the INF Treaty. Foreign Minister Maas recalled that the agreement affects the central interests of the European security architecture. In this regard, he pointed out the need for close coordination of next steps with the European partners," the ministry said in a statement.
It added that Maas had also held talks on Monday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the future of the INF Treaty, and they decided to discuss this topic in the alliance.
The INF treaty was signed between the Soviet Union and the United States in December 1987 and required the parties to destroy their ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (from 311 to 3,317 miles). The United States and Russia have repeatedly accused each other of violating the treaty.
