INF Treaty

On 4th August 2025, Russia formally declared that it would no longer observe the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

Russia cited the deployment of U.S. intermediate-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific as a direct security threat.

What was the INF Treaty?

Aspect	Details
Signing	Signed in 1987 by US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Missile Range Covered	Banned all land-based ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500-5,500 km.
Cold War Significance	Hailed as a major Cold War arms-control success and led to the dismantling of over 2,600 missiles.

Background

Development	Details
US Allegation	Since 2014, the United States accused Russia of developing the 9M729/SSC-8 missile system in violation of the treaty.
US Withdrawal	In 2019, the United States withdrew from the INF Treaty, stating that Russia had violated it.
Russia’s Position	Russia maintained a moratorium in name, but its actions in Ukraine signalled otherwise.

KEY NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL TREATIES

Treaty	Significance
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), 1970	A cornerstone of global efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), 1996	Prohibits all nuclear test explosions. It was negotiated in Geneva at the Conference on Disarmament. India has not signed the treaty.
New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), 2011	Successor to the original START Treaty and sets verifiable limits on strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems for the US and Russia.

PT Facts

INF Treaty: Covered only land-based missiles, not sea-based or air-launched systems.
Cold War Arms Control: One of the landmark arms-control agreements of the Cold War era.
Intermediate-Range Missiles: Missiles in the 500-5,500 km range.
Treaty Exit: The US withdrew in 2019, while Russia stopped observing it in 2025.

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