"We are going to terminate the agreement and then we are going to develop the weapons" unless Russia and China agree to a new deal, Trump said on Saturday.
READ MORE: ‘We’d take out Russia’s nukes,’ US NATO envoy says, claiming ‘banned’ missiles are being developed
Although Trump claims that Russia has violated the deal, he provided no evidence of that claim during his Saturday announcement.
Trump made the announcement following a campaign stop in Elko, Nevada, just one day after the Guardian reported that National Security Adviser John Bolton was pushing the president to leave the treaty.
Russia has repeatedly said it will keep strictly observing the INF treaty as long as the US does. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in October 2017 that any withdrawal from Washington would see an "immediate and mirror-like" response from Moscow.
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