OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 7:30 AM PT – Sat. February 2, 2019
Russia moves to suspend the INF treaty just one day after the U.S. announced it was ready to pull out of the agreement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed the move during a meeting earlier Saturday, instructing officials not to engage in de-escalation talks with the Trump administration.
He also said the Russian government would immediately start work on a range of new ballistic missiles, including hypersonic missiles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, speaks to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019. Putin said that Russia will abandon the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, following in the footsteps of the United States, but noted that Moscow will only deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles if Washington does so. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
“We will provide a mirror-like response. The American partners have declared that they suspend their participation in the deal, we are suspending it as well,” said Putin. “They have announced that they will engage in research and development programs, we will do the same.”
In a follow up, Putin claimed Russia would not deploy its weapons anywhere in the world unless the United States does first.
