Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov Says Moscow Fully Complies With INF Treaty

© Sputnik / Grigoriy Sisoev / Go to the mediabankMoscow, Russia. News conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov evaluating the 2016 performance of Russian diplomacy.
Moscow, Russia. News conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov evaluating the 2016 performance of Russian diplomacy. - Sputnik International
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Russia has not violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) signed by Moscow and Washington in 1987, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published Tuesday.

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MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In February, US media reported that Russia had deployed nuclear cruise missiles in violation of the INF Treaty. Earlier in March, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Gen. Paul Selva said in a congressional testimony that the United States aims to "look for leverage points" seeking Russia's compliance with the treaty.

"The Russian leadership has repeatedly confirmed its adherence to the commitments under the INF Treaty. There have not been violations from our side. The United States claim the opposite, but they do not provide any information that could be verified in order to clarify the situation," Lavrov told Russia's Argumenty i Fakty weekly.

The minister added that Moscow had its own concerns over Washington's compliance with the INF Treaty and that the Russian side had repeatedly called on US partners to substantially discuss the most controversial points related to the agreement's implementation.

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan signed the INF Treaty in 1987. Russia is a party to the treaty as the Soviet Union's successor state. Within the framework of the deal, the two sides agreed to destroy and not to further develop ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles that have a range of 500-5,500 kilometers (310-3,410 miles). Since then, both Moscow and Washington have repeatedly accused each other of violations of the bilateral agreement.

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