USA invites Russia to discuss elimination of ballistic missiles

US authorities invited Russia to discuss the implementation of the treaty on the elimination of intermediate-range missiles at the top level, White House spokeswoman Marie Harf said.  She expressed a hope that the Russian Federation would promise the USA to resume the performance of contractual obligations. Harf said that the US was expiating a response from Russia on the subject.

Harf did not specify where the talks could be held and when.

On July 29 , the presidential administration the United States accused Russia of violating the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) from 1987. Barack Obama sent a letter to Vladimir Putin, in which he wrote that the United States accused Russia of violating the treaty.

These suspicions appeared in Washington as early as 2011 and were brought to the attention of Russian officials in May 2013. The notice was sent to the US Embassy in Moscow.

In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the United States of violating the same treaty. "They launch target missile for the air defense system, produce armed drones and MK-41 systems that are capable of launching medium-range cruise missiles," officials at the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

According to RBC, the USA is likely to be concerned about experimental tests of ground missile complex RS-26 "Frontier" ("Rubezh") dubbed as "the killer of missile defense," as well as tactical cruise missile R-500, used for Iskander K complexes.

Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia said that the United States was staying in the grip of Cold War propaganda.

The Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles was signed in 1987 in Washington, by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan. The USA and the USSR pledged not to manufacture or test ground-based cruise and ballistic missiles of medium (1000 to 5500 km) and short (500 to 1000 km) range. By 1991, the USSR  had destroyed 1846 missiles systems, whereas the United States - 846.