US To Test New Missiles After Ending Nuke Treaty

The Associated Press reports:

The United States plans to test a new missile in coming weeks that would have been prohibited under a landmark, 32-year-old arms control treaty that the U.S. and Russia ripped up on Friday.

Washington and Moscow walked out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty that President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed in 1987, raising fears of a new arms race  The U.S. blamed Moscow for the death of the treaty.

It said that for years Moscow has been developing and fielding weapons that violate the treaty and threaten the United States and its allies, particularly in Europe. “Russia is solely responsible for the treaty’s demise,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement released on Friday.

The Trump administration lifts restraints on Russia’s missiles. Why am I not surprised? https://t.co/XTbtkxAAPs

— Joe Cirincione (@Cirincione) August 2, 2019

New arms race? Trump officials end the INF arms treaty with Russia & plan to start testing new missiles this summer. A big reason: To deploy missiles to counter China. w/ @SangerNYT. https://t.co/DJRg2r1L3D

— Edward Wong (@ewong) August 2, 2019