The INF Treaty Compliance Disputes and Its Future Implications

The Treaty on Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces(simplified as the INF Treaty)was signed by the United States and the former Soviet Union on December 8,1987 and formally entered into force as of June 1,1988 in the wake of exchanging the instruments of ratification.By comprehensively banning the ground-launched missiles range from 500-5500km possessed by both countries,the INF Treaty for the first time in history achieved the substantial reduction of both countries’nuclear arsenals and introduced the on-site inspection,on which the verification regime in future nuclear disarmament treaties like START I,START II as well as New START are built.Those features of the treaty provide historic implications for its contribution to both strategic stability and international security.