The INF Treaty

In December 1987, President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in Washington, DC. The treaty eliminated both nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic missiles with a range of 300-3,400 miles. The treaty itself did not set a number on the amount of missiles to be destroyed; it instead set target numbers for the amount of missiles that would remain. Weapons inspectors were required from each country in order to ensure the fulfillment of this treaty. While the INF Treaty was considered a success, Gorbachev believed the U.S. was too hesitant in supporting disarmanent and began an additional reduction of its armed forces in the spring of 1988, without a reciprocal reduction in the U.S. The drastic cuts to the Soviet military was a sign of Gorbachev's commitment to reform as well as the fundamental weakness of the Soviet economy, which could no longer sustain its armed forces.