U.S. to Withdraw From INF Treaty
CABRERA: It's now official, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announcing the U.S. will pull out of a key Reagan-era nuclear arms treaty with Russia. Now, Pompeo says, "Today the United States provided Russia and other Treaty Parties with formal notice that the United States will withdraw from the INF Treaty in six months, pursuant to Article XV of the Treaty." This coming after Russia announced this morning that it would dump the treaty if the U.S. does. CNN's Alex Marquardt reports on the tit-for-tat moves that many fear will inch the U.S. and Russia closer to a new arms race.</s>MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Good morning, everyone.</s>ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United States announcing today it is suspending one of the last remaining nuclear arms treaties between the U.S. and Russia.</s>POMPEO: We've provided Russia an ample window of time to mend its way and for Russia to honor its commitment.</s>MARQUARDT (voice-over): The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF, was signed by President Ronald Reagan and then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987. Over the past several years, the U.S. has accused Russia of violating the treaty of developing and deploying medium-range nuclear-ready missiles.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can't be put at the disadvantage of going by a treaty, limiting what we do, when somebody else doesn't go by that treaty. OK?</s>MARQUARDT (voice-over): The Trump administration says Russia has placed battalions of missiles near the borders of Europe, not allowed by the Treaty's terms. The missile is called the 9M729. Russia recently showed off the system, but not the missile itself, to journalists and claims that it does abide by the INF. Russia has implemented and continues to meticulously implement the requirements of the treaty, this Russian General said, and does not allow for any violations to happen. The goal of the treaty was to prevent the two sides from developing land-based, medium-range nuclear weapons. NATO, whose members are the most threatened by the Russian moves, expressed its full support of the U.S. pulling out. While some experts, including former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, told Jake on State of the Union, it was a dangerous thing to do.</s>GEN. COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Now, there are a people now who say, well, let's - we've got to get out of this treaty, we've got to get out of that treaty. Bad, terrible mistakes, which we will regret, because they don't make sense.</s>MARQUARDT (voice-over): The biggest concern? Today's move could spark an arms race, not just with Russia but with China, which has not been constrained by the treaty and has grown exponentially more powerful over the past three decades.</s>ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: China is already developing these capabilities as well as strategic nuclear capabilities. You've got the North Koreans, and of course, the Russians have not only been developing these intermediate-range missiles, but hypersonic and more strategic nuclear-capable missiles as well. So we're already in a bit of an arms race now.</s>MARQUARDT (voice-over): Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.</s>CABRERA: We have much more on our breaking news this hour, including reaction from the President of the NAACP, how he is responding to the Governor's explanation for the racist photo. Next.