Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday submitted to the Russian Parliament a bill on the suspension of the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty, as the crisis cements fears of an emerging arms race.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the State Duma a draft federal law on Russia's suspension of the Soviet-U.S. treaty on the elimination of intermediate and shorter-range missiles," the speaker of the lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, said, as reported by state-run agency TASS.

Moscow's relations with the West are strained over issues including Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, allegations of meddling in the U.S. presidential election and being behind a nerve agent attack in Britain.

The previous U.S. withdrawal raises the prospect of further deterioration in U.S.-Russian relations, which already are arguably at the lowest point in decades, and debate among U.S. allies in Europe over whether Russia's alleged violations warrant a countermeasure such as the deployment of an equivalent American missile in Europe. The U.S. has no nuclear-capable missiles based in Europe; the last of that type and range were withdrawn in line with the INF treaty.

The U.S. announced in February it will withdraw from the INF treaty in six months unless Moscow ends what it says are violations of the 1987 pact. It claimed that Russia's testing of the 9M729 missiles breached the terms of the deal. It said it would reconsider its withdrawal if Russia came into compliance with the agreement, which bans both nations from stationing short- and intermediate-range land-based missiles in Europe. Russia denies violating the treaty. The U.S. is set to formally leave the treaty in August.

The INF treaty banned all missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers, a legacy of the end of the Cold War as last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan sought to ease European fears of an arms race that would destroy their cities.