U.N. rejects Russian bid to oppose U.S.’ treaty exit

UNITED NATIONS — Russia lost a vote Friday that would have allowed the U.N. General Assembly to consider a resolution supporting a landmark missile treaty and opposing U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from it.

The attempt to put a Russian resolution backing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty on the agenda of the General Assembly’s disarmament committee was rejected in a 55-31 vote, with 54 countries abstaining.

Senior Russian arms-control official Andrei Belousov said he didn’t understand the result, noting that most countries that abstained “are active supporters of nuclear disarmament” and that a significant number of those who voted against the procedural measure are in favor of preserving the treaty.

Russia “tried to send a serious signal to U.S. political circles about the danger of the course chosen by the current [U.S.] administration,” he said. “We thought that such an initiative would be supported by all sensible forces.”

Robert Wood, the U.S. ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, called the Russian proposal a “very politicized resolution” that was not submitted by the deadline to be considered by the disarmament committee.

Russia presented the draft to the General Assembly’s disarmament committee Thursday, but the U.S. protested that it was after the Oct. 18 deadline for submitting resolutions. Russia argued that Trump’s announcement came after the deadline, said Fedor Strzhizhovskiy, spokesman for Russia’s U.N. mission.

He said the committee chairman reported Friday that he was unable to find consensus on a way forward, and Russia then called for a vote.

A U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because consultations were private, said European Union and NATO countries voted against having the disarmament committee consider the resolution and asked others to abstain in order to prevent further escalation and to promote U.S.-Russian negotiations to find a solution.

The United States accuses Russia of violating the 1987 treaty, which bans all groundlaunched cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 3003,400 miles.

In 2017, White House national security officials said Russia had deployed a cruise missile in violation of the treaty. Earlier, the Barack Obama administration accused the Russians of violating the pact by developing and testing a prohibited cruise missile.

Russia has repeatedly denied that it has violated the treaty and has accused the United States of not being in compliance.