Russia and the United States have failed to get closer to one another at a diplomatic meeting in Geneva over the important INF disarmament treaty. „The meeting was disappointing,“ wrote US diplomat Andrea Thompson, in charge of arms control, today on Twitter.
According to Thompson, Russia continues to violate the 1987 agreement, which prohibits mid-range land-based nuclear missiles from 500 to 5,500 kilometers in range. Moscow is not breaking the treaty and is ready to prove it to the US, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. It was disappointed that Washington ignored the proposals, he told the agency Interfax.
US demand for Russia „unacceptable“
The US and NATO rate a new Russian cruise missile named 9M729 (NATO code: SSC-8) as a violation. They had given Moscow 60 days until the beginning of February to agree to their disarmament. If Russia violated the treaty, it would be useless for the US to cling to it, said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo then in Brussels. „The US demand for complete and verifiable destruction of the 9M729 missile is unacceptable,“ Ryabkov said.
On the other hand, the US leadership of President Donald Trump anyway wants to get out of the contract, because other powers such as China are not bound by it. For the European NATO members, the INF agreement is important because it has significantly reduced the threat of nuclear missiles in Europe.
