July 28, 2014

Report: U.S. Concludes Russia Violated INF Treaty

By ExchangeMonitor

The United States has determined that Russia has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty by testing a ground-launched cruise missile in 2008 that is forbidden under the terms of the treaty, according to published reports yesterday. A report in the New York Times yesterday indicated that President Obama informed Russian President Vladimir Putin of the violation in a letter after Secretary of State John Kerry broached the subject with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Sunday. The violation will be outlined in the State Department’s annual compliance report, which has been delayed since April. “The United States has determined that the Russian Federation is in violation of its obligations under the I.N.F. treaty not to possess, produce or flight test a ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) with a range capability of 500 kilometers to 5,500 kilometers or to possess or produce launchers of such missiles,” the compliance report will say, according to the Times.

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. Russia has not deployed the system in question, and the Administration is likely to press Russia to address the violation, perhaps through promising to keep the cruise missile out of its active forces or by destroying it, the Times suggested.

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