Mikhail Gorbachev: Trump’s Withdrawal From Russian Nuclear Treaty Is Not the Work of ‘a Great Mind’

Mikhail Gorbachev slammed President Trump’s decision to withdraw from a nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia that the former Soviet leader established with former President Reagan in 1987, saying in a Sunday interview with Interfax that Trump’s decision was not the work of “a great mind.” The New York Times reports that Gorbachev characterized the decision as a threat to global peace, arguing that “Under no circumstances should we tear up old disarmament agreements. Is it really that hard to understand that rejecting these agreements is, as the people say, not the work of a great mind.” He later added that “All agreements aimed at nuclear disarmament and limiting nuclear weapons must be preserved, for the sake of preserving life on earth... Do they really not understand in Washington what this can lead to?” The treaty from which Trump is withdrawing, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, was established to ease Cold War tensions by limiting both nations’ nuclear powers. As The Daily Beast previously reported, this is the Trump administration’s first withdrawal from a major arms control treaty. Trump announced his plans to withdraw after a Saturday rally in Nevada, the Times notes, citing alleged violations committed by Russia several years prior. “Russia has not, unfortunately, honored the agreement so we’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out,” Trump told reporters.