US pulls out of historic Russia-US nuclear accord
On 2 August, the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was officially terminated at Washington's initiative.
The United States formally suspended its obligations under the INF Treaty in February, accusing Russia of numerous violations of the deal. In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by signing a decree that would suspend Russia's participation in the accord.
The INF Treaty required that the United States and Russia eliminate and permanently forswear all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (310 to 3,417 miles).
New START was signed in 2010 and is currently the only Russian-US arms control deal. Russia has repeatedly stressed that it is open to a dialogue on the future of the treaty.
