Russia rejects as ‘groundless’ the categories of the U.S. that they have violated the treaty to eliminate intermediate-range of nuclear weapons (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, INF), and instead accusing Washington that itself has violated the landmark treaty that has been signed in the towards the end of the Cold War.

A statement by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that “We have accumulated a lot of complaining to the U.S. in regard to the Treaty INF. These include the production of remote-controlled armed unmanned aircraft from Americans, falling into the category of ground cruise missiles under the Treaty”.

The new Moscow-Washington debate on the treaty eliminating medium-range nuclear weapons-which was signed in 1987 by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev-comes amid escalating diplomatic “war” on the crisis in Ukraine and U.S. accusations of military support separatists from the Russian leadership.

Vladimir Putin may according to Russian analysts is on the verge to leave a bilateral treaty, after the public accusations of Barack Obama against Moscow for breach of the Treaty INF (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty) by testing nuclear cruise missiles.