The Russian threat

Donald Trump’s announcement that he is withdrawing from a nuclear weapons treaty with Russia should serve as a wake-up call on the military threat Moscow poses to European security.

The Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) agreed between Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987 prohibits nations from possessing, producing or test-firing ground-launched cruise missiles with a range of between 300 and 3,400 miles. But with Vladimir Putin determined to rebuild Russia’s military strength, suspicions have been growing in Washington that Moscow is violating the INF and has been working on a new generation of medium-range, ground-launched ballistic missiles that exceed the INF’S range limits.

Concerns about the Russian programme were first raised by the Obama administration in 2014. Since then, national security officials in Washington believe Moscow has deployed an equipped missile battalion in the Ekaterinburg region of Russia, a move that has now prompted Mr Trump to withdraw from an agreement which he argues prevents the US from developing new missile systems of its own to counter the emerging threats posed by both Russia and China.

Speaking in New York at the weekend, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson remarked that Moscow’s actions have made a “mockery” of the treaty. But if it collapses, the Government needs to understand that Britain will also need to raise its game if it is to defend itself against the new Russian threat. At present, Britain’s anti-missile defences are minimal – a state of affairs that cannot be allowed to continue if the INF treaty collapses.