The EU advocates the preservation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), as well as the functioning mechanism for reduction of weapons in Europe, German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Monday, Sputnik reported.

"It was already announced at the end of the week that NATO would be intensively addressing this issue in the coming weeks. Of course, Germany will actively participate in this discussion. We advocate the preservation of this treaty and the functioning architecture of arms reduction in Europe. This is our great challenge," the foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr told a briefing.

At the same time, the European External Action Service's spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said that the United States and Russia should keep up "constructive dialogue" on the US decision to pull out of the INF. 

The treaty in question… is one of the cornerstones of the European security architecture… [The] US and Russia need to remain engaged in constructive dialogue to preserve the treaty and to ensure… its full and verifiable implementation," Kocijancic said.

When asked if the European Commission would hold Russia responsible for the dissolution of the treaty, the spokeswoman added that the statement on the issue was being prepared and the organization expected "the Russian Federation to address the concerns regarding its compliance with this treaty in a substantial and transparent way."