Peter Nikolaev
Russia should remove the missiles banned by the INF Treaty from Europe, said the special envoy of the US President Jeffrey Eberhardt. According to him, Moscow violated the agreement. However, the Kremlin denies these accusations, and the State Duma and the Federation Council call the words of the American official “an attempt to dump from a sick head to a healthy one.”
Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev called the US statement about the alleged deployment of missiles by Russia in Europe as unfounded.
According to him, this is “an attempt to get rid of a sore head on a healthy one.” The parliamentarian stressed that such issues should be discussed at expert consultations, and not through “megaphone diplomacy”, especially in the case “when she has only a megaphone from diplomacy.”
Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, Yuri Shvytkin, also said that the United States is trying to “dump from a sore head to a healthy one,” he was quoted by Duma TV.
“The US actions on this issue are perplexing. It is necessary to recall the history [of the issue] – in 2019, the States withdrew from the INF Treaty, and it ceased to exist. At the same time, realizing the need to ensure security, Putin unilaterally proposed not to deploy intermediate and shorter-range missiles in European countries… And to ensure control by interested countries, ”the parliamentarian said.
Shvytkin added that “to our great regret,” the United States is now looking for an excuse to get away from the implementation of this issue. The actions of the United States, in his opinion, are aimed at escalating tensions “in general in Europe.” The peoples of those European countries where the missiles are deployed have become hostages, he added.
“Our doors are open – but taking into account reciprocal steps from European countries,” the deputy noted the Russian Federation’s readiness for a dialogue on the “new INF Treaty”.
Jeffrey Eberhardt said earlier that Russia should remove missiles from Eu-rope that are banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty). The agreement ended on August 2, 2019.
“Russia has already violated the INF Treaty by deploying missiles. So the solution is for them to remove these missiles, ”the American diplomat said.
The Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles was signed by US President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev in Washington in 1987. The USSR press called the treaty “the first step towards a nuclear-free world.”
This document prohibited the use and creation of short (from 500 to 1,000 km) and medium (from 1,000 to 5,500 km) range missiles that could be deployed on land. By mid-summer 1991, the Soviet side had eliminated about 2,000 missiles, and the Americans destroyed 846 missiles. Subsequently, the disarmament process continued under the control of the military expert commissions of the two powers.
On February 1, 2019, US President Donald Trump announced that Washington was “suspending” the fulfillment of its obligations under the INF Treaty. Six months later, the United States withdrew from the Treaty because Russia allegedly violated it. In response, on February 2, Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was also suspending its participation in the INF Treaty.
Now Russia is calling on NATO countries to respond to Moscow’s call and impose a moratorium on the deployment of intermediate and shorter-range missiles. This was stated during the meeting of the first UN General Assembly committee on disarmament issues (October 8) by I. O. Konstantin Vorontsov, Deputy Director of the Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
