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Hillary Clinton: INF Treaty Withdrawal a ’Gift to Putin’

Hillary Clinton: INF Treaty Withdrawal a ’Gift to Putin’
folder_openUnited States access_time5 years ago
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By Staff, Agencies

Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton slammed the Trump administration's decision to pull out from the INF Treaty as a "gift to [Russian President] Putin".

Speaking at an event hosted by Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and its Institute of Politics and Public Service on Wednesday night, Clinton said the current administration withdrew "without really holding Putin accountable for his cheating on the treaty".

She went on to tell the crowd that instead of demanding talks on the matter, the US decided to pull out, and claimed that Russia was going "to go forward and develop even more of these" weapons.

Looking at the situation from a global perspective, Clinton suggested that the world could face some bleak prospects following the collapse of the landmark treaty.

Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington would be suspending its obligations under the INF Treaty starting on 2 February.

He further said that the accord would be entirely terminated if Russia doesn't meet Washington's demands regarding the alleged treaty violations, namely to destroy all ground-based 9M729 missiles and their launchers, as well as other associated equipment that purportedly breached the agreement.

Pompeo stated that Russia has six months to save the deal while the US goes through the process of withdrawing from it.

Shortly after the withdrawal announcement, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, during which the head of state said that Moscow was suspending its obligations under the INF Treaty in response to Washington's move.

While saying that Moscow was still open to negotiations, Putin instructed the ministers not to initiate talks on the matter.

In December, the US gave Russia a 60 day warning about withdrawing from the treaty, asking Moscow to return compliance by destroying the missiles that allegedly violate the treaty. The 60 days were up at the beginning of February.

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