The United States formally scrapped an arms control treaty that for more than three decades served as the foundation for global strategic stability, although US President Donald Trump expressed enthusiasm about jumpstarting talks on a new pact.
DEATH OF A TREATY
Earlier on Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty ended today because of alleged Russian violations. The Russian Foreign Ministry, in response, accused the United States of intentionally creating an insurmountable crisis in order to terminate the agreement. The United States formally suspended its obligations under the INF Treaty in February, accusing Russia of numerous violations of the deal. In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by signing a decree that would suspend Russia’s participation in the accord. The INF Treaty required that the United States and Russia eliminate and permanently forswear all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,417 miles).
The United States has long claimed that Russia allegedly tested and deployed the 9M729 ground-launched cruise missile, arguing it has a range of more than 500 kilometers, which contradicts the treaty. Russia has denied the allegations and said the US Aegis Ashore MK-41 defense system can be used to launch cruise missiles at prohibited ranges.Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman in a statement on Friday ominously announced that US strategic forces will fully pursue the development of ground-launched conventional missiles following Washington’s withdrawal from the treaty.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called Friday’s decision to withdraw from the treaty a “grave mistake.”The ministry also noted the move was preceded by deliberate efforts on the part of Washington to undermine the accord, creating a pretext for its collapse. Moscow said those efforts indicated that the United States was steering a course to destroy all international agreements that do not suit Washington for any reason.
The Foreign Ministry said that the INF withdrawal indicates an imminent need for stabilization in bilateral relations between the United States and Russia and added that Moscow remains open for a dialogue on the restoration of mutual trust and strengthening of global security. The termination of the INF treaty may become a reason for the United States and Russia not to extend or replace the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), Yuri Shvytkin, deputy chair of the Committee on Defense at the lower house of the Russian parliament, told Sputnik on Friday.
FEAR, ANGER & HOPE
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that Russia and China are “very excited” to begin talks on a new arms control agreement. Trump also said the United States and Russia will eventually reach an agreement on reducing the number of nuclear weapons “at some point.” The NATO alliance, for its part, said it wanted to have a constructive relationship with Moscow in the wake of the INF exit “when Russia’s actions make that possible.” Several US lawmakers slammed the Trump administration for endangering global stability and recklessly putting American security at risk. US Congressman Joaquin Castro also argued that Trump’s move will weaken American’s standing across the globe.
“Pompeo’ s announcement that the United States government has withdrawn from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty sets back US national security and significantly weakens our credibility with friends and foes alike,” Castro said in a press release on Friday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Russia and the United States to start a dialogue on international arms control measures and avoid destabilizing actions following the end of the INF Treaty between, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Friday. The death of the INF Treaty means that Washington has now ensured the destruction of a substantial portion of the strategic peace and stability in the world and thoughts of replacing it are misguided, according to analysts. Washington has killed the third of the four arms control treaties left to us by the Cold War. All that remains is the strategic agreement of [previous President Barack] Obama and Trump says he doesn’t like that either,” former Canadian diplomat Patrick Armstrong told Sputnik after the decision on Friday.
Armstrong also dismissed Trump’s optimism about negotiating an updated treaty to replace the INF agreement and New START that would include China.”It’s possible that Trump expects some re-negotiation of these treaties this time involving China as well but, if so, Beijing is probably not going to bother. So all that’s left is Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD): no matter what one side does, the other can obliterate it,” he said. American University in Moscow President Professor Edward Lozansky, a former nuclear physicist, agreed that Trump’s optimism about replacing the INF with another treaty was misplaced. Lozansky warned that New START might face the same fate. Lozansky claimed that Trump was correct to recognize that any new arrangement to replace the INF would have to include China as a full partner.
Hence, close diplomatic cooperation between Trump and Putin would be essential if there was to be any prospect of Beijing joining in such negotiations, Lozansky told Sputnik.Chinese officials have repeatedly scoffed at the notion of engaging in talks on a trilateral arms control pact given the order of magnitude difference between Beijing’s arsenal compared to those of Washington or Moscow. Some analysts believe that many European states will likely resist Washington’s strategy to encircle Russia with a nuclear umbrella. George Washington University Research Professor Sharon Squassoni, who served in the State Department’s Nonproliferation Bureau as the Director of Policy Coordination, believes there is good reason for Europe to worry about the end of the INF because transparency will decrease tremendously.
(UNI)
