NATO is planning for a potential rupture of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, but it does not want a new arms race and does not plan to deploy new ground-based missiles in Europe, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday ahead of the NATO defense ministers’ meetings in Brussels.
“We urge Russia to take this opportunity [to fix alleged compliance breaches]. At the same time, we are planning for a world without the INF treaty. At this meeting of defense ministers we will discuss what steps NATO should take to adapt to a world with more Russian missiles and maintain effective deterrence and defense. I will not speculate on what those steps will be … Any steps we take will be coordinated, measured and defensive. And we do not intend to deploy new ground-based nuclear missile in Europe … NATO does not want a new arms race,” Stoltenberg told reporters.
The NATO chief added that the alliance would continue talking to Russia about the treaty.
“We have and we will meet to [talk with] the Russians to address the INF issue,” Stoltenberg said.
