Putin suspended the INF Treaty

On July 3, Vladimir Putin signed a law suspending the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range Missiles (INF Treaty). It is officially published and comes into force from today. The decision on the resumption of the INF Treaty by Russia is made by the President of Russia, the document says.

• Thus, the penultimate strategic security treaty ceased to operate. The latest - START-3 - the US and Russia should extend until February 2021, but this is unlikely .
• The INF Treaty was concluded in 1987 between the USSR and the USA. Both sides pledged to destroy and no longer produce land-based ballistic and cruise missiles with a radius of 500 to 5,500 km.
• In February 2018, Donald Trump announced Washington's withdrawal from the INF Treaty. He did not rule out a new agreement, but only with the participation of China. We wrote about it here and here .
• After Trump's statement, Vladimir Putin also announced the suspension of Russia's participation in the treaty. In February 2019, in a message to the Federal Assembly, Putin touched on the use of medium-range missiles. "Let the United States first calculate the speed and range of the latest Russian weapons, and then act," Putin said.