Free Republic

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said an Obama-era nuclear weapons pact would lapse unless the US took an interest in renewing it. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) pact limits the number of deployed nuclear warheads, missiles and bombers and is due to expire in 2021 unless renewed. […] The treaty limits the US and Russia to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, well below Cold War caps. It was signed in 2010 by former US President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. It is one of the key...

[Dossier] Democrats intentionally used disinformation from Russia to attack Trump, campaign aidesBy Rowan Scarborough The Washington Times July 11, 2017 While the mainstream news media hunts for evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, the public record shows that Democrats have willfully used Moscow disinformation to influence the presidential election against Donald Trump and attack his administration.The disinformation came in the form of a Russian-fed dossier written by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele. It contains a series of unverified criminal charges against Mr. Trump’s campaign aides, such as coordinating Moscow’s hacking of Democratic Party computers.Some Democrats have widely circulated the discredited information....

President Donald Trump said Saturday he will pull the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty because Russia has violated the agreement, but he provided no details on the violations. The 1987 pact, which helps protect the security of the U.S. and its allies in Europe and the Far East, prohibits the United States and Russia from possessing, producing or test-flying a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles. “Russia has violated the agreement. They have been violating it for many years,” Trump said after a rally in Elko, Nevada. “And we’re not going to...

US Secretary of Defense James Mattis sent a letter to Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist warning the Nordic nation of a negative impact on relations should they sign an anti-nuclear bomb treaty, according to a report in a Swedish newspaper. Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) reports that the letter was registered at the Swedish Department of Defense on Tuesday, and regards Sweden’s intention to sign a treaty banning nuclear bombs when it opens for signatures from any UN member state in September. […] “The implication is that if the government signs the convention banning nuclear weapons, including on Swedish territory, it would...

MOSCOW -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that American and Russian negotiators are "on the brink" of agreement on a nuclear arms reduction treaty. After meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Clinton said she expects a treaty-signing soon, although she mentioned no date or place. "Our negotiating teams have reported that they have resolved all of the major issues and there are some technical issues that remain," she said at a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "But we are on the brink of seeing a new agreement between the United States and...