Two senior members of the House of Representatives this week said Russia is in “material breach” of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and that the Obama administration has failed to respond with sufficient strength to the threat.
“It has become apparent to us that the situation regarding Russia’s violation has worsened and Russia is now in material breach of the Treaty,” Reps. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, wrote in an Oct. 17 letter to President Barack Obama.
The INF Treaty prohibits the U.S. and Russia from fielding surface-to-surface ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. In 2014 the State Department determined Russia had violated the treaty by flight-testing an intermediate-range ground-launched cruise missile. Though it did not elaborate on details of that violation, analysts have said the flight test may have involved an RS-26 ballistic missile or R-500 cruise missile.
The lawmakers did not discuss details of the increasing violation of the treaty in the letter. However, officials told The New York Times they believe Russia is working toward deployment of such a nuclear cruise missile and that the government is manufacturing more missiles than would be necessary for flight tests.
Despite plans by the State and Defense departments to respectively impose economic sanctions and develop military response options against Russia, neither one imposed any such consequences, the letter said. The lawmakers expressed concern about the administration’s lack of response to the treaty violation, calling for “penalties for Russia’s near-decade long pattern of violations that undermine this seminal arms control treaty and place it on the verge of collapse.”
They urged Obama to implement both economic penalties and military response options, and more broadly cautioned the president against taking significant nuclear arms control steps in the waning months of his term. Obama has been widely reported to be considering such measures, but to date has seemingly decided against enacting a no-first-use policy for the U.S. nuclear deterrent and restricted promotion of a global nuclear test ban to a nonbinding resolution in the U.N. Security Council.
“We urge you to direct your National Security Council to abandon legacy-building Prague Agenda actions under review this month, such as eliminating a leg of the nuclear triad or reneging on the modernization commitments you made in 2010,” Thornberry and Nunes wrote. “Further, in view of such Russian behavior, you should not prematurely extend the New START Treaty (a potential source of leverage with Russia) or implement destabilizing changes to U.S. nuclear doctrine that guarantees our allies’ security.”
Thornberry commented Wednesday in a separate statement that failure to respond to INF violations “encourages more Russian misbehavior and leads to a more dangerous world,” while Nunes called it “yet another misstep contributing to the spreading perception of American weakness and indecisiveness.”
Meanwhile, Russia has also claimed that U.S. target missile tests for global missile defense and production of armed drones violate the treaty, something the administration has disavowed.
A senior administration official said Thursday that the administration is reviewing the lawmakers’ letter and plans to respond.
“However, senior U.S. officials, including Secretary Kerry, have raised U.S. concerns regarding Russia’s lack of compliance with their INF obligations with their Russian counterparts,” the official said. “We have made very clear our concerns about Russia’s violation, the risks it poses to European and Asian security, and our strong interest in returning Russia to compliance with the Treaty.”
