PressTV-US Senators urge Trump not to pull out of nuke treaty

A group of US senators have written an open letter to President Donald Trump urging not to withdraw the United States from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a Cold War-era nuclear weapons agreement with Russia.

“While we understand the challenges of getting Russia to reverse its violation of the INF Treaty, the Administration’s sudden decision to withdraw unilaterally is a political and geostrategic gift to Russia,” Senators Bob Menendez, Jack Reed and Mark Warner wrote on Monday.

They said such a step in particular “feeds a narrative that the United States is willing to shred our commitments unilaterally without any strategic alternative.”

“Additionally, it allows Russia to expand the production and deployment of its intermediate range missile system, the 9M729, which will further menace Europe,” they said.

Trump said last month that he was planning to abandon the INF, a key arms control treaty that has been in place…

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