At the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament, Robert Wood, US disarmament ambassador, said unfortunately the US increasingly finds that Russia cannot be trusted to comply with its arms control obligations and that its coercive and malign actions around the globe have increased tensions. He said Russia must verifiably destroy all SSC-8 missiles, launchers and associated equipment in order to come back into compliance with the INF Treaty, Robert said.

The Russian delegation did not immediately respond to Wood’s allegations but the Kremlin has repeatedly denied it is in violation of the INF. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the US pullout from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) could threaten the START-3 agreement, the final document on arm control. Russia is ready to further work to rescue INF Treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated at a conference on Russia’s diplomatic achievement in 2018.