MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States has not yet provided evidence of Moscow's violation of the medium-range nuclear power treaty, the Russian foreign affairs ministry said on Wednesday, but said it was ready to continue discussing the matter with Washington.
The United States gave Russia a 60-day deadline on Tuesday to prove its innocence over what Washington considers a violation of the 1987 treaty, saying it would have to start a six-month withdrawal if there was no change.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a press statement that the US embassy in Moscow had handed over a memorandum to Moscow on Tuesday evening saying that Washington would withdraw from the treaty unless Moscow began to abide by it.
"These documents have been handed over for further investigation, and once again there are unfounded allegations of our alleged violation of this agreement," she said.
The treaty, signed by former US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, ended an arms race in Europe that resulted in the deployment of Moscow's SS-20 nuclear missiles targeting Western European capitals.
