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What Russia's INF suspension meant by 8 February 2019
Summary
A look back at the Russian decision, announced days before 8 February 2019, to suspend participation in a Cold War-era nuclear treaty.
What did it mean when Russia stepped back from a key nuclear arms treaty? By 8 February 2019, the question was already on the table, six days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the move.
On 2 February 2019, Putin suspended Russia's involvement in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. He said Russia would now start developing new missiles. The step was a response to the decision by the United States to withdraw from the Cold War-era agreement.
The sequence was therefore clear. Washington had chosen to leave the treaty, and Moscow answered by suspending its own participation and announcing a new missile programme.
A wider framing
The episode was placed by some commentators within what scholars and journalists have called a Second Cold War, or Cold War II. The terms describe heightened geopolitical tensions in the 21st century, usually between the United States and NATO on one side and Russia or China on the other. Others have discouraged using such labels for ongoing tensions.
For readers in Kyiv and the wider region, the key point on 8 February 2019 was that a treaty tied to the Cold War era no longer bound Russia in the way it had, and that Moscow had said it would develop new missiles.
