The head of U.S. military forces in Europe said Tuesday the United States should do more to bring Russia back into compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
The Trump administration has determined that Russia is in material breach of the treaty, which prohibits the U.S. and Russia from fielding ground-based cruise and ballistic missiles with flight ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. Last month, U.S. officials said Russia has deployed such a nuclear-capable cruise missile, and that the administration is planning potential responses to the treaty violation.
“We have to respond to their violation of that treaty, one way or the other,” Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of U.S. European Command, said Tuesday at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Russia.
Asked by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) whether he believes Russia will return to compliance with the treaty in the near future, Scaparrotti said, “I don’t have any indication that they will at this time.”
He later added that there is “more probably that we need to do,” but said that President Donald Trump will be responsible for developing the specific policy to this end.
Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said during the hearing that the Obama administration did not do enough to address the INF Treaty violation when it came to light several years ago. “I want to encourage you to continue to have a strong voice within the military and . . . the government at large,” he said, particularly because “our government needs to take treaty violations more seriously.”
Scaparrotti also weighed in on the nuclear weapons ban treaty that the United Nations this week began negotiating, despite the boycott by the United States and the other formal nuclear powers. Such a ban “is just not realistic” given the behavior of other world actors, he said. He pointed specifically to North Korea – which has been conducting rocket engine tests and is said to be preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile – and Russia with its nuclear modernization program.
