New arms race in starting blocks

US QUITS TREATY: RUSSIA WILL MATCH DEVELOPMENTS

Moscow cites US strike drones and antimissile systems as eroding the treaty.

Moscow

The Kremlin said yesterday Russia would be forced to respond in kind if the US began developing new missiles after quitting a landmark Cold War-era treaty.

President Donald Trump said on Saturday Washington would withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty because Russia was violating the pact, triggering a warning of retaliatory measures from Moscow.

The treaty, signed by then president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, required the elimination of short-range and intermediaterange nuclear and conventional missiles by both countries. Its demise would raise the possibility of a spiralling arms race.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said yesterday the US move would make the world more dangerous place and that Russia would be forced to act to restore the balance of military power if Washington quit the pact and started developing new missiles.

“This is a question of strategic security. Such measures can make the world more dangerous,” Peskov said of the planned US withdrawal.

President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly said the demise of the treaty would force Russia to take specific steps to protect its own security, Peskov added. “It means the US is openly starting to develop these systems and if these systems are being developed, then actions are necessary from other countries, in this case Russia, to restore balance in this sphere.”

There was a six-month period for the US to withdraw from the treaty after Washington gave official notification it was leaving, he said, which it had not yet done. That meant the question of Russia developing its own new intermediate-range missiles, which Washington accuses it of doing anyway, was not “for today or tomorrow,” he said.

Trump’s national security advisor John Bolton was due to hold talks with senior officials in Moscow later yesterday and to meet Putin today.

Peskov said Trump’s decision to quit the pact would be discussed. Moscow was looking for a detailed explanation for why Washington had decided to turn its back on the treaty.

Russia denied US accusations it had breached the treaty, said Peskov, alleging that the US had been steadily undermining it.

“The US is taking measures that are eroding the conditions of this treaty,” he added, referring to strike drones and antimissile systems capable of destroying shortand intermediate-range rockets. – Reuters