Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) was an arms control treaty signed by the United States and the Soviet Union (and its successor state, the Russian Federation) on December 8, 1987. The treaty banned the development, testing, and deployment of nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and missile launchers with ranges of 500-5,500 kilometers. The treaty was ratified by the US Senate on May 27, 1988, and came into effect on June 1, 1988. Over 2,692 missiles were eliminated by May 1991, followed by 10 years of on-site verification inspections. However, the treaty was withdrawn by the US in 2019 due to Russian non-compliance, specifically the development and deployment of the SSC-8 (Novator 9M729) cruise missile, and the US formally withdrew from the treaty on August 2, 2019.learn more on wikipedia