The USA will stop the implementation of its obligations under the Treaty on the elimination of intermediate-range and shorter-range nuclear forces (INF) if Russia within 60 days will not come back to his performance. This was stated on Tuesday by the US Secretary of state Michael Pompeo at the meeting of NATO defense Ministers.

“The United States will stop fulfilling its obligations under the Treaty on the elimination of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles, if Russia does not return to its execution within 60 days. We highly appreciate NATO’s support for this US decision,” he said.

“During these 60 days, we will not develop, produce or deploy such missile systems,” the Secretary of state added. “If Russia renegotiates its decision, returns to the Treaty and eliminates its missile program, we will welcome it.”

The official representative of the Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, commenting on Pompeo’s statement regarding Russia’s implementation of the document, noted that Moscow strictly complies with the provisions of the Treaty.

“Russia strictly complies with the provisions of the Treaty, and the American side is aware of this,” she stressed.

On October 20, the US President Donald Trump said that his country will withdraw from the INF TREATY, as Russia, according to Washington, violates the Treaty.

The US accuses Russia of violating the Treaty because of the Russian-developed ground-based cruise missile 9M729 for the Iskander complex. Washington and NATO believe that this system falls under the Treaty, Moscow denies it. Russia has also repeatedly accused the United States of violating the agreement, for example because of the US missile DEFENSE systems in Romania.

The Treaty on the elimination of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles was signed in 1987 by General Secretary of the CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev and the US President Ronald Reagan. The agreement prohibits the parties from producing, testing and deploying ground-based ballistic and cruise nuclear missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 km.

In May 1991, the Treaty was fully implemented, by the time the USSR destroyed 1752 ground — based ballistic and cruise missiles, USA-859. The document is of an indefinite nature. At the same time, each of the parties has the right to terminate it by providing convincing evidence of the need to exit it.