Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987 (INF)

The plan
It was part of the 1980s wind down of the Cold War and the attempt to end Europe's tragic post-1970s role as a major wood-be atomic war zone.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty, formally Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles; Russian: Договор о ликвидации ракет средней и меньшей дальности / ДРСМД, Dogovor o likvidatsiy raket sredney i menshey dalnosti / DRSMD) was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union (and its successor state, the Russian Federation).

The rules
The INF Treaty banned all of the two nations' land-based ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and missile launchers with ranges of 500–1,000 kilometers (310–620 mi), (short medium-range) and 1,000–5,500 km (620–3,420 mi) (intermediate-range). The treaty did not apply to air- or sea-launched missiles. By May 1991, the nations had eliminated 2,692 missiles, followed by 10 years of on-site verification inspections. It banned all types of missiles with ranges between 500 kilometers (310 miles) and 5,500 kilometers (3,410 miles).

Joining dates
U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty on 8 December 1987. The United States Senate approved the treaty on 27 May 1988, and Reagan and Gorbachev ratified it on 1 June 1988.

Exit dates
Amidst continuing growth of China's missile forces, US President Donald Trump announced on 20 October 2018 that he was withdrawing the US from the treaty, falsely accusing Russia of non-compliance. The US formally suspended the treaty on 1 February 2019, and a fed up Russia did so on the following day in response. The US formally withdrew from the treaty on 2 August 2019.