The last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, warned today that the world is sliding into a dangerous period of militant politics and called on Moscow and Washington to urgently commit to negotiations on nuclear arms control.
Gorbachev, whose democratic reforms and push to limit armaments in the 1980s helped end the Cold War, told the Izvestja newspaper two months after the 1987 nuclear deal (INF) expired.
"There are dangerous trends - and they are all clearly visible. I would single out two. The disregard of international law and the militarization of world politics," Gorbachev said.
US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in August, accusing Moscow of violating the agreement and then testing a missile with a range prohibited by the treaty.
Moscow has denied violating the agreement, but Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia now had no option but to produce previously banned missiles to protect itself.
The last major US-Russian nuclear arms limitation treaty, New START, expires in 2021.
It limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads of the two largest nuclear powers.
Putin said that Moscow is ready to extend the agreement, but believes that the US refuses to adequately address the issue.
US officials say it could be replaced by another agreement when it expires.
Gorbachev (88) said that due to the collapse of the INF, new US-Russian negotiations are urgently needed. Although Gorbachev has no direct influence in Washington and Moscow, his opinion still carries weight.
"It turned out that this agreement is the most important pillar of strategic stability. We need negotiations so that its collapse does not increase the danger of war," said Gorbachev.
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