Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country will withdraw from a landmark nuclear weapons treaty after the Trump administration announced Friday that it would pull out of the pact.
“We will respond quid pro quo,” Putin said Saturday, according to The Associated Press. “Our American partners have announced they were suspending their participation in the treaty, and we will do the same.”
“They have announced they will conduct research and development, and we will act accordingly,” Putin added, according to the outlet.
President Trump on Friday accused Moscow of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which was signed between then-President Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987.
“For far too long, Russia has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with impunity, covertly developing and fielding a prohibited missile system that poses a direct threat to our allies and troops abroad,” Trump said in a statement Friday. – READ MORE