Russia warns Trump over plan to quit nuclear treaty

MOSCOW: Moscow on Sunday warned US President Donald Trump that his plan to ditch a Cold War-era nuclear weapons treaty with Russia was a dangerous step.

Ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who signed the original document back in 1987, condemned the move as showing Trump’s "lack of wisdom". Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov warned that withdrawal "would be a very dangerous step" and said Washington faced international condemnation in its bid for "total supremacy" in the military sphere.

He insisted that Moscow observed "in the strictest way" the three-decade-old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, known as the INF, while accusing Washington of "flagrant violations".

The treaty was signed by then US president Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, who on Sunday told Interfax news agency that "dropping these agreements... shows a lack of wisdom" and is a "mistake".

Germany "regrets the planned withdrawal" and it will require discussion among Nato countries, a government spokeswoman said, calling the treaty "an important element of arms control". But Trump on Saturday claimed Russia had long violated the treaty.