Members of the CDU and SPD in Germany want to ban the threat of a nuclear arms race in Europe with a new proposal to Russia and the US. CDU parliamentarian Roderich Kiesewetter and SPD MP Rolf Mützenich suggested in the „Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung“ that Russia is moving its controversial new SSC-8 cruise missiles so far east that they can no longer reach Europe.
In return, the US should open its own launchers in Europe for Russian controls, suggested Kiesewetter and Mützenich. This concerns the launch pads for defensive interceptor missiles in Romania and in future also in Poland. Of these, Russia claims they could also be used for offensive weapons.
Next to each weapon an observer
Mützenich said a control offer at these US facilities would create a „confidence-building basis“ for new arms control negotiations. At the same time, the transfer of Russian missiles to the east must be secured by a „strict and continuous verification regime,“ Kiesewetter said. It had to be „standing next to every single weapon permanently an observer“. The Russian side has not yet approved effective controls. Kiesewetter is the chairman of the Union in the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mützenich is Deputy Chairman of the SPD Group.
The Russian rockets are at the center of the dispute between Moscow and Washington over the INF disarmament treaty. The US accuses Russia of violating the agreement with the missiles. Washington has therefore canceled it.
