Treaty · 1987

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty

Signed in Washington by President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, the treaty required both nations to eliminate all of their ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, along with their launchers and support equipment, within three years. After the Senate gave its advice and consent, it entered into force on June 1, 1988, and by 1991 the two sides had destroyed 2,692 missiles under an unprecedented regime of on-site inspections.

“In accordance with the provisions of this Treaty which includes the Memorandum of Understanding and Protocols which form an integral part thereof, each Party shall eliminate its intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles, not have such systems thereafter, and carry out the other obligations set forth in this Treaty.”

Signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, December 8, 1987

Why it matters

It was the first arms control agreement to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons, embodying Reagan’s maxim “trust, but verify.” The United States withdrew in 2019, citing Russian violations that Russia denied.

Read the full text at 2009-2017.state.gov

Primary Source

The original record, reproduced or linked from the institution that holds it. Primary sources show what people said and did in their own words.

Subjects

cold war arms control foreign policy national security

From the library

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