(June 27) NATO demands that Russia destroy all of its 9k729 cruise missiles or face unspecified repercussions. Officials admit that they do not expect Russia to comply with NATO demands.
NATO says that the Russian missiles violate the INF treaty
A recent Reuter's article notes that the US insists that the Russian missiles would allow short-range nuclear attacks on Europe and violates the 1987 intermediate range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). However Russia has denied that the missiles violate the treaty insisting that they are shorter range than the treaty covered.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said: “We call on Russia to take the responsible path, but we have seen no indication that Russia intends to do so. We will need to respond."
US has given notice it will withdraw from the treaty
Russia is likely to pay no attention to the NATO announcement, given that the US has already suspended participation and will withdraw formally in August, if Russia does not destroy all the missiles the US considers violation of the treaty.
US ambassador Kay Hutchison said that all options are on the table to retaliate against Russia's refusal to destroy the missiles, but so far the US is considering only conventional systems and not a nuclear response.
Russia worries about NATO and US putting nuclear arms on Russian border
A recent article notes: "The underlying threat is that the US, or NATO in general, are going to put nuclear arms on the Russian border, which the INF wouldn’t have allowed, but which they are no longer abiding by. Russia has warned this would create a crisis on the level of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis."
The 1962 crisis came to an end thanks to cool-headed diplomacy. President Kennedy and Nikita Khruschev came to an agreement that saw the Soviet missiles in Cuba sent back to Russia.
There appears to be another arms race developing and tensions between Russia, the US and NATO are growing.
Previously published in the Digital Journal
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