The US will unilaterally pull out of a more-than-30-year-old treaty with Russia that bans a wide array of nuclear weapons, US President Donald Trump says.
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The 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) was signed by US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in Washington.
It banned nuclear and conventional missiles with ranges of 500 to 5500 kilometres, as well as their launchers.
"We're going to terminate the treaty and we're going to pull out," Trump told reporters in Nevada on Saturday, where he was campaigning for a Republican Senate candidate.
National Security Adviser John Bolton meanwhile set off for Moscow, where he is expected to discuss the withdrawal, which has already drawn criticism from Russia.
A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told the state news agency TASS that the US had wanted to take the step "for many years" and had been "intentionally and gradually eroding the contractual base".
The source said the decision was "in line" with the US policy of "withdrawing from international legal agreements that impose equal obligations on all partners" and was based on a US "dream about a unipolar world".
Trump said Russia had been violating the agreement.
"They've been violating it for many years. And I don't know why president Obama didn't negotiate or pull out. And we're not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons, and we're not allowed to," he said.
The US would begin building such weapons again if Russia and China did not come to a fresh agreement on them, he added.
Moscow criticised the US decision to pull out, labelling the decision as a dangerous solo effort.
"This would be a very dangerous step," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, according to the state-run TASS news agency.
"Inability and unwillingness to come to terms with us on a sound foundation push certain forces in Washington to encourage the country's leadership to make a decision on a formal withdrawal," he added, calling on the international community to condemn it.
The US and Russia have long accused one another of violating the terms of the treaty.
Washington bases its accusation on Russia's development of the Novator 9M729 cruise missile, NATO designation SSC-8, which has a range of 2600km.
Earlier this month, NATO called on Moscow to address concerns about the missile, while US ambassador to NATO, Kay Hutchison, appeared to warn that the US would consider launching military action to destroy the missile.
Australian Associated Press
