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Bloomberg
Russia showed foreign envoys a missile that’s at the centre of a dispute with the US over a landmark nuclear treaty, as Moscow mounted a diplomatic offensive against Washington’s plans to withdraw from the pact.
US demands for the elimination of the 9M729 missile are “unacceptable,†Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a televised briefing for foreign diplomats and news media. The US accuses Russia of breaching the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty by deploying the missile, which Moscow denies.
Russia will continue to abide by the terms of the INF treaty even if the US gives six months’ notice on February 2 of its intention to withdraw, Ryabkov said at the briefing by the Russian foreign and defense ministries.
The pact will remain in force during this period, while the US decision is “dubious from a legal point of view†since Russia isn’t in violation of the treaty, he said.