(Brussels) US claims that Russia has repeatedly violated a Cold War missile treaty could not be resolved in a meeting between the two sides. The US is now set to formally start the six-month process of quitting the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty on February 2, Nato allies have been told.
Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said the US had failed to fully consider Russian proposals to save the pact and prevent a new arms race in Europe. The INF treaty, negotiated by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev and signed in 1987, eliminated medium-range missile arsenals. (Reuters)