By Kevin Pham

Staff Writer

  On Feb. 1, the Trump administration declared that it would suspend the Reagan-era nuclear arms treaty with Russia. The accord, known as the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), will be terminated if Russia continues to maintain its growing nuclear arsenal states to Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State.

  The Arms Control Association reports that the “1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty required the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate and permanently forswear all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.”

  In 2014, The United States Compliance Report detailed that Russia violated this arms agreement and has continued to do so for the past five years.

  According to Alex Ward, associate director of the Atlantic Council Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, Trump announced in October 2018 that the U.S. would give Russia time to fall back into INF Treaty terms.

  The New York Times found that the Trump administration plans to replace the treaty before it expires in 2021. However, the Russian government is also making moves to end the treaty.

  On Feb.2, in response to the accusations, Russian President Vladimir Putin counter accused and announced that he would pull his country out of the nuclear arms security pact.

 Following this, the U.S. will officially leave the deal in 6 months, again, giving Russia time to “change America’s mind.”

  Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) “first priority” should be to salvage what is left of the INF Cold War agreement. In regards to the conflict, NATO has made preparations to move forward without said treaty.

  Foreign Minister Heiko Maas of Germany stated that “[the INF treaty is an] important pillar of our European security architecture” and these decisions “raise difficult questions for us and Europe.”

  In his press release, Putin confirmed that Russia is manufacturing weapons that were previously banned under the treaty, but, will not deploy them unless the United States engages.

  In a Nevada rally, Trump stated, ““If Russia’s [violating the treaty] and if China’s [manufacturing nuclear arms], and we’re adhering to the agreement, that’s unacceptable.”

  However, during the Russian press release President Putin claimed the U.S. was guilty of doing so as well.

  Putin stated, “I would like to draw your attention to the fact that we must not and will not let ourselves be drawn into an expensive arms race.”