The US military tested Thursday a conventional missile that was previously banned by the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces treaty that the Trump administration exited earlier this year, citing Russian violations.
“The Department of Defense conducted a flight test of a conventionally-configured ground-launched ballistic missile at approximately 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time, today, Dec. 12, 2019, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Robert Carver told CNN in a statement.
The test comes just two days after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Washington for talks with President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. During the visit, Lavrov criticized the US decision to leave the INF Treaty and urged Washington to renew the New START Treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms control pact between Russia and the United States.
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