MOSCOW, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Russian says it might withdraw from a nuclear arms control treaty unless the United States abandons plans for an Eastern Europe defense shield.
Yury Baluyevsky, the Russian army chief of staff, said the country might quit the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty, which ended production of nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of about 300 to 3,500 miles in the United States and Russia, the Financial Times reported Friday.
He said the possibility is tied to the U.S. plan to install a portion of its missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has expressed conditional support for installing missile interceptors and radars in the country.
Baluyevsky also said there is convincing evidence for leaving the agreement because "many countries are developing and perfecting medium-range rockets."
A senior U.S. official at the Pentagon said the Russian move would have serious consequences for U.S. allies in Europe and said the country would "resist" a Russian attempt to pull out of the treaty.
