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The latest development comes amid fears that Russia and the US, the two biggest nuclear powers, could be entering a new arms race along with China. The Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, was signed by former US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, in a major breakthrough that marked the the first time the two powers had agreed to reduce the size of their nuclear arsenals. It also saw a whole category of nuclear weapons elimated, and both countries employing extensive on-site inspections for verification, as per Arms Control Association. As a result of the treaty, the US and what was then the Soviet Union, destroyed 2,692 short-, medium-, and intermediate-range missiles the by the time the implementation deadline of June 1, 1991. (责任编辑：) |