Russia ‘in violation’ of treaty from Cold War

Russia is in violation of a landmark Cold War-era nuclear treaty and must be called out on the breach, Britain’s Chief of the Defence Staff has said.

The declaration comes as Nato foreign ministers in Brussels said they “strongly support the finding of the United States that Russia is in material breach of its obligations” under the 1987 Intermediaterange Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Giving evidence to the Commons defence committee yesterday, General Sir Nick Carter was asked by chairman Julian Lewis if he was convinced that Russia has broken the treaty to a significant degree. Gen Carter said: “My view is that Russia is in breach of the treaty with the deployment of some of its systems, which break the 500 to 5,000km range. And I am in no doubt that we need to call them out on that breach.”

The US government claims Russia’s new SSC8 missile system contravenes the treaty.