17 February
US Vice President Mike Pence and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have traded barbs over their countries' bilateral arms reduction treaties.
Both delivered speeches at a security meeting in the southern German city of Munich on Saturday. Pence accused Russia of having violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty for years. Washington cites this as the reason why it expressed its intention to pull out.
Lavrov expressed concern about Washington's ambition for new bombers and cruise missiles mountable with nuclear warheads. The New START treaty, another bilateral arms reduction treaty, is due to expire in 2021.
Lavrov said Russia is ready to negotiate an extension of the treaty but so far no meaningful talks have taken place, an apparent allusion to US reluctance to come to the table.—NHK
