The United States will officially leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) on Friday, marking what some worry will be the resumption of a new arms race between Russia and the United States.
With the INF now essentially undone, 32 years of nonproliferation efforts will likely be reversed.
The 1987 INF treaty prompted the United States and Russia (then the Soviet Union) to dispose of nearly 2,700 conventional and nuclear weapons with a range of between 310 and 3,417 miles.
The United States and NATO have accused Russia of violating the treaty with its 9M729/SSC-8 ground-launched cruise missiles, which they say breach the limits of the INF. Russia maintains that the missiles comply with the limits of the INF, flying at a maximum range of 298 miles. But this has proven difficult to confirm.