The current owner of the White House makes Russia a “gift” by its decision to withdraw the United States from the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles.

This conclusion was reached by Tom Nichols in the US National Interest, calling such a move by President Donald Trump a mistake.. As the magazine notes, a more self-confident administration, instead of breaking the agreement, would consult with NATO allies and "drag the Russians to the negotiating table for boring but necessary work" to show the Kremlin that it would not be able to provoke panic among the bloc members and destroy the whole international contract. If Trump realizes his threat of withdrawing from the INF, he will make a serious mistake that will not only destabilize European security and undermine NATO, but may also have dangerous consequences for strategic nuclear stability between the US, Russia and China, according to National Interest.. The article calls the act of the American leader dangerous because now he plays into the hands of Moscow.. The publication reminds that at the time of the signing of the agreement, the USSR had an advantage in conventional weapons, and NATO adhered to the “First Strike” doctrine - the use of nuclear weapons in the event of external aggression before a conditional adversary is decided upon.. The elimination of medium and shorter-range missiles made gradual escalation impossible — from the use of conventional weapons to nuclear strikes.. According to Nichols, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the advantage in conventional weapons on the side of the States and the North Atlantic alliance, therefore, breaking the agreement harms the interests of Washington. The article emphasizes that Russia is interested in this.. The author claims that Moscow allegedly constantly provoked the Americans to take this step, regularly violating the treaty. "Russians are constantly testing weapons at closed training grounds," the journalist writes, "they do it not because they are strong, but because they are weak.". Nichols called Russia "a revisionist power seeking to threaten its neighbors". According to him, our country is violating the treaty, "trying to intimidate the Europeans, raising the specter of a regional nuclear war". In addition, the article points to the inconsistency of the argument that the United States announced its withdrawal from the agreement in order to put pressure on China.. Washington, the author believes, does not have missiles suitable for "limited nuclear war in Asia" and bases for their deployment.. Recall that last week Trump announced his withdrawal from the agreement, as Moscow allegedly violated the terms of the INF Treaty for many years.. Commenting on Washington’s possible move, Russian President Vladimir Putin at today's press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte described the situation as extremely dangerous.. “We are concerned that the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems has been eliminated, now we are talking about the Treaty on Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, then the fate of START-3 is unclear ... If all of this is dismantled, then nothing will remain in the sphere of limiting armament growth” - RT quotes him. The Russian leader wondered what the Americans would do with the newly emerging missiles.. "If they are delivered to Europe, then naturally we will have to answer mirror. European countries that agree with this, if it comes to that, will have to understand that they are putting their own territory at risk of a possible retaliatory strike, "Putin said and added that there are now no reasons to bring the Europeans to such a high degree of danger.