NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned the chances of saving a landmark Cold War arms treaty were decreasing day by day, after talks with Russian officials failed to yield any breakthrough. Russia and the United States have both suspended their participation in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF), accusing each other of violating the accord, which banned a whole class of nuclear-capable missiles.
Washington will definitively quit the deal on August 2 unless Russia destroys a controversial new missile system the US and NATO say breaches the accord, signed in 1987 between US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. “We didn’t see any sign of Russia being willing to come back into compliance with the INF treaty,” Stoltenberg said.