So the US Embassy in Slovakia said that "Russia is cheating on the INF Treaty." Oh my. I don't suppose such an accusation was ever levelled in the history of arms control!

Come off it. Just stop it, already. So the US says Russia is cheating. There are mechanisms to ensure compliance built into every arms treaty - ever hear the phrase "trust but verify"?

Russia refuted the accusations. So it was a case of "he said, she said".

What we do know is that the US pointed fingers then used their own allegations as an excuse to unilaterally withdraw from the INF treaty. They wanted out so that they could deploy their Aegis Ashore MK 41 missile launchers in Poland and Romania (and eventually Ukraine). That's all.

Trump was a madman. He was surrounded by crazed warmongers like Bolton and other PNAC psychopaths. Pulling out of the INF was not the only dangerous and irresponsible thing he did.