MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister says that the U.S. has ignored Moscow’s proposal to inspect a Russian missile that Washington says has violated a nuclear arms treaty.
Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that Russia offered during talks in Geneva earlier this week that U.S. experts see the missile. He said the U.S. negotiators stonewalled the offer, repeating Washington’s demand that Russia destroys the weapon it claimed violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Lavrov charged that the U.S. refusal to consider the Russian offer to have a close look at the missile reflects Washington’s intention to abandon the INF treaty,
U.S. Undersecretary of State Andrea Thompson said in Tuesday’s statement that “the meeting was disappointing as it is clear Russia continues to be in material breach of the treaty.”
