INF treaty withdrawal to undermine global trust in US

Czech President Milos Zeman has condemned the initiative of US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF Treaty) in an interview with TV Barrandov.

"I share the opinion of the European Union, which expressed its protest against the US withdrawal from the treaty. Donald Trump has denounced several international pacts. This treaty is not the first and not the only one. I stick to the principle that if you cancel an agreement that you had once signed, then you lose trust," he said.

On October 20, US President Donald Trump said that Washington would pull out of the INF Treaty because Russia had allegedly violated it.

The INF Treaty was concluded on December 8, 1987, and took effect on June 1, 1988. It applies to deployed and non-deployed ground-based missiles of intermediate range (1,000-5,000 kilometers) and shorter range (500-1,000 kilometers). In the recent years, Washington has been repeatedly accusing Russia of violating the treaty. Moscow strongly dismissed the accusations and voiced its own claims concerning Washington’s non-compliance.