Arms control experts have sent at least two letters to the White House urging President Donald Trump to renegotiate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia instead of scrapping it completely, US media reported on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th November, 2018) Arms control experts have sent at least two letters to the White House urging President Donald Trump to renegotiate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia instead of scrapping it completely, US media reported on Thursday.
"The INF Treaty is a bedrock to our current arms control regime and serves rather than hampers American interests," one letter from a group of former high-level military officers said, according to The New York Times.
A second letter sent by prominent arms control figures including a former Secretary of State and former Senators noted that the treaty has "prevented the unchecked deployment of nuclear missiles in Europe," the newspaper reported.
On October 20, US President Donald Trump said the United States would withdraw from the INF, claiming that Moscow was not respecting the agreement.
The Kremlin rejected the accusations, adding that Russia would be forced to take measures to ensure its security if the treaty is terminated by the United States.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on October 28 that Washington had handed over to Russia a list of complaints regarding the implementation of the accord and that Moscow was preparing its response to the US concerns.
