May 29, 2014

LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE RESOLUTIONS ON POTENTIAL RUSSIAN INF VIOLATIONS

By ExchangeMonitor

Frustrated with the Obama Administration’s reaction to possible Russian violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, House and Senate Republicans introduced legislation yesterday to hold Moscow accountable for the potential cheating. GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced companion resolutions that would declare that Russia “violated and circumvented” the treaty and calls on President Obama to “take appropriate action to ensure that the Russian Federation is unable to profit from its violation by potentially threatening U.S. allies in Europe and Asia.” The lawmakers did not specify what actions the President should take.

The INF Treaty that was signed by the Soviet Union and the United States in 1987 required each country to get rid of missiles with ranges of 300 and 4,000 miles, and the accord also prevents each country from testing or building such weapons. But reports earlier this year suggested that top State Department officials met with NATO allies in January to provide info on alleged Russian tests of a new land-based cruise missile that violates the treaty. Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), Joe Heck (R-Nev.), Ted Poe (R-Texas) introduced the resolution in the House, while Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), David Vitter (R-La.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) introduced the bill in the Senate. “The viability of future arms control agreements depend on the reliability of current ones,” the lawmakers said in a statement. “The INF treaty is the central arms control accord of the nuclear era. We must treat it seriously and pursue violations relentlessly. There is simply no point in having treaties unless both sides treat them with the utmost fidelity, and act in a manner binding to the agreement.”

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