Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF)

IN NEWS:

• Ex national security adviser of USA John Bolton has said in his book that one of the reasons for withdrawal of USA from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) was that it didn’t limit other countries’ missile programmes, including India.

WHAT IS INF TREATY:

• Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union (and its successor state the Russian Federation).
• U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty on 8 December 1987.
• The INF Treaty eliminated all of the two nations' land-based ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and missile launchers with ranges of 500–1,000 kilometers (310–620 mi) (short medium-range) and 1,000–5,500 km (620–3,420 mi) (intermediate-range).
• The treaty did not apply to air- or sea-launched missiles. By May 1991, the nations had eliminated 2,692 missiles, followed by 10 years of on-site verification inspections.

PRESENT STATUS OF INF TREATY:

• President Donald Trump announced in October 2018 that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the treaty, accusing Russia of non-compliance.
• The U.S. formally withdrew from the treaty on Aug 1, 2019.

PRELIMS QUESTION:

Q. The ‘Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF)’ is related with which of the following countries:

1. South Korea and North Korea
2. USA and Russia
3. Japan and China
4. India and China

Answer to Prelims question