US issues Russia ultimatum

BRUSSELS: The United States delivered Russia a 60day ultimatum yesterday to come clean about what it says is a violation of an arms control treaty that keeps missiles out of Europe, saying only Moscow could save the pact.

Nato allies led by Germany pressed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a meeting in Brussels to give diplomacy a final push before Washington pulls out of the 1987 Intermediaterange Nuclear Forces Treaty, fearing a new arms race in Europe.

The INF treaty eliminated the mediumrange missile arsenals of the world’s two biggest nuclear powers and reduced their ability to launch a nuclear strike at short notice.

‘‘Russia has a last chance to show in a verifiable way that they comply with the treaty . . . but we also have to start to prepare for the fact that this treaty may break down,’’ Nato Secretarygeneral Jens Stoltenberg told reporters.

Nato foreign ministers agreed to formally declare Russia in ‘‘material breach’’ of the INF treaty in a statement in support of the US, after Pompeo briefed them in Brussels on Russian violations and on US President Donald Trump’s stated aim to withdraw from it.

Russia denies undertaking any such development of landbased, intermediaterange Cruise missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads and hitting European cities at short notice.

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday the US had yet to provide any evidence Moscow was in breach of the treaty but it was ready to keep discussing the matter.

A US exit from the INF treaty would put another strain on Nato allies already shaken by Trump’s demands for higher defence spending and what diplomats say is a lack of clarity about where US strategy is heading.

While Stoltenberg said there would now be an intense diplomatic push to try to convince Russia to give up what Pompeo said were ‘‘multiple battalions of the SSC8 missiles’’, the US was set to pull out in February, prompting a sixmonth withdrawal period under the accord, diplomats said.

‘‘Its range makes it a direct menace to Europe,’’ Pompeo said of the Novator 9M729 missiles. Russia’s actions ‘‘greatly undermine America’s national security and that of our allies’’, he said.

Difficult to detect and fired from mobile launchers, the Russian missiles are especially dangerous because they reduce the warning time Nato air defences might have to shoot them down, military experts say.

Pompeo said the US Government had raised the issue at least 30 times since 2013 with Moscow but had faced what he said were denials and counteractions.

He also said the US had evidence the test launches were from a single site in Russia, near Volgograd, southeast of Moscow.

‘‘In the light of these facts, the United States declares Russia in material breach of the treaty and will suspend our obligations . . . effective in 60 days unless Russia returns to full and verifiable compliance,’’ Pompeo said. — Reuters