On a visit to Washington, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas appealed to both powers to save the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF) but pointed the finger at Russia. "The ball is still in Russia's court," he told reporters after talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. While welcoming that Washington and Moscow had held talks, Maas criticized the existing Russian proposals as insufficient. The United States has declared Russia to be in violation of the treaty - which bans ground-launched missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. At a briefing Wednesday in Moscow, Russia for the first time revealed the missile in question -- the 9M729 -- but insisted that its maximum range was 480 kilometers.

Source: The Local January 24, 2019 08:03 UTC