October 28, 2007 (LPAC) -- The United States and Russia issued a joint declaration urging all countries to destroy intermediate range nuclear missiles. Russia has been pressing the United Sates to rewrite the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty to include countries other than those of the former Soviet Union and the United States; otherwise, the Putin government has said, it will withdraw from INF, since it will be the only nation in all Eurasia which is observing it.

The U.S. agreement apparently meets this key demand. The declaration was released Oct. 25 in New York and published by both the U.S. State Department and the Russian foreign ministry. The short text notes that December 8, 2007 will be the 20th anniversary of the treaty between the Soviet Union and U.S. which banned ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.

By late May 1991 the USSR and the U.S. destroyed all missiles of these two classes along with all supporting infrastructure under strict verification procedures, the joint declaration says.