Russia says Trump’s decision to withdraw from 1987 nuclear treaty would be ‘very dangerous’ and could elicit retaliation
Russia called the decision by US President Donald Trump to exit a Cold War-era weapons treaty dangerous and said the withdrawal is liable to attract retaliation.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, negotiated by president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, prohibited the US and Russia from possessing land-based missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometres. Its ratification led to the destruction of US Pershing and Cruise missiles and Soviet SS-20 missiles in Russia.
The treaty formed part of a series of arms controls credited with easing the threat of war between the two superpowers but in recent years has been dogged by accusations of breaches by both countries.
National Security Adviser John Bolton, long an opponent of arms control treaties, has been pushing Mr Trump to pull out of the deal.
The US believes that a recently developed Russian missile, the 9M729, has a range of more than 500km, which would breach the INF’s restrictions. “Russia has not, unfortunately, honoured the agreement so we’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out,” Mr Trump said after a rally in Nevada.
Mr Trump said his intention to scrap the landmark arms control agreement came after years of breaches by Moscow in developing proscribed weapons. President Barack Obama first accused Russia of breaking the INF in 2015 but did not act. Russia accuses the US of similar breaches.
Britain said it stood “absolutely resolute” with the US, while Germany called the decision regrettable.
In response to Mr Trump’s announcement, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Saturday that a unilateral US withdrawal would lead to a “military-technical” retaliation.
Without specifying what
Russian retaliation would look like, he said withdrawal “would be a very dangerous step”. He said it was Washington that was failing to comply with the treaty.
He said the Trump administration was attempting to use the INF to blackmail the Kremlin, putting global security at risk. “We will, of course, accept no ultimatums or blackmail methods,” he said. “But we would rather things did not get that far.”
A Kremlin spokesman said Russian President Vladimir Putin would seek answers about the planned withdrawal when he meets Mr Bolton for talks in Moscow this week.
Mr Trump said the US will develop new weapons unless Russia and China agree to halt their development. “We’ll have to develop those weapons,” he said.
“Unless Russia comes to us and China comes to us and they all come to us and say let’s get smart and let’s none of us develop those weapons, but if Russia’s doing it and if China’s doing it, and we’re adhering to the agreement, that’s unacceptable.”
Opponents of US arms control argue that INF limits the US while China, which is not a party, invests in medium-range missiles that could threaten US bases, allies and shipping in the Pacific.
John Bolton is also opposed to the extension of another major pillar of arms control, which limits the number of deployed strategic warheads
Mr Bolton is also opposed to the extension of another major pillar of arms control, the new Start treaty, which limits the number of deployed strategic warheads. The agreement is due to expire in 2021.
British defence minister Gavin Williamson told the
Financial Times that he supported Mr Trump’s decision, arguing that the Kremlin was making a mockery of the treaty.
Germany’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas said yesterday that the INF is “an important pillar of our European security architecture”.
He said that Germany had repeatedly urged Moscow to “clear up the allegations of breaching the INF, which Russia has so far not done”.
But he expressed misgivings over Mr Trump’s announcement, which “raises difficult questions for us and Europe”.
“We now urge the US to consider the possible consequences.”