MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax) - The statement of U.S. President Donald Trump that he will pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty that the United States signed with the former Soviet Union is not a legal act, but rather blackmail; still it is threatening and dangerous, Russia's Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Konstantin Kosachyov said.
"Let me remind you that although Article 15 of the Treaty stipulates for unilateral withdrawal, it is solely possible under exceptional circumstances with their justification and a six month notice of withdrawal. No formal steps have by now been taken in this regard, which gives us grounds for thinking that Trump's statement is still more like a continuing blackmail attempt rather than an accomplished legal act," Kosachyov wrote on Facebook.
However, "that does not make it [the U.S. statement] any less threatening and dangerous," Kosachyov said.