Politics
As Trump Moves to Scrap Nuclear Treaty, Europe Asks: Why So Fast?
- Europeans see security dependent on treaty they didn’t sign
- Putin may have violated agreement to provoke U.S. to withdraw
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin arrive for a meeting in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018.
Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
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Two years ago, President Vladimir Putin was asked if there was any value to the 1987 treaty banning Russia and the U.S. from having mid-range, ground-launched nuclear missiles. The answer, in essence, was no.
That exchange is seared in Rand Corp. political scientist Samuel Charap’s memory, not least because Putin began his response by asking if Charap was a spy.