Facts for Washington: the Defense Ministry revealed 9M729 missile to foreign attaches

The Russian Defense Ministry revealed some of the characteristics of the 9M729 missile, which, according to Washington, allegedly violates the provisions of the INF Treaty.

At the event, the rocket was first demonstrated to foreign military attaches. However, representatives of the United States and NATO countries did not attend the briefing.

"The military attaches of the United States, Britain, France and Germany, as well as representatives of NATO and the European Union, to whom an invitation was sent, refrained from attending the briefing," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

During the presentation, representatives of the department said that the 9M729 is a modernized version of the 9M728 missile, which is part of the Iskander-M complex. The 9M729 changed the number of warheads and placed additional equipment, which made the rocket longer by 53 centimeters. In addition to this, the 9M729 received a new launcher that allows it to deploy four missiles, rather than two.

The 9M728 and 9M279 missiles are unified for the most part of the units, but there are also differences.

“On the 9M729 rocket, combat equipment of enhanced power and a new onboard control complex are placed, providing higher accuracy in hitting the target,” the Defense Ministry said.

The maximum range of 9M729 is 480 km. This is 10 km less than that of 9M728. Recall the provisions of the INF Treaty banned missiles with a range of 500-1000 km and 1000-5500 km.

As the chief of the missile forces and artillery of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant-General Mikhail Matveyevsky, told during the briefing of the Ministry of Defense, the maximum flight distance of 9M729 was stated earlier during the exercise.

“The specified range was confirmed during the West-2017 SKSHU,” said Matveyevsky.

According to the lieutenant general, the 9M728 and 9M729 missiles are equipped with a warhead and are fueled only in factory conditions. "The mass of fuel at the same time provides the maximum constructive range of flight, limited by the requirements of the contract," said Matveevsky.

Missiles are delivered to the troops in special containers, changing the mass of fuel and refueling under military conditions is impossible, the general noted.

“Everything has been said”

The Russian side, in contrast to the Americans, provided a lot of evidence, said military expert, editor of the Arsenal of Fatherland magazine, Alexey Leonkov, in an interview with RT.

“The American side worked like the British, according to the“ highly Likely ”principle. That is, they charge us, we say: "Give the facts." They say: “Why give you, if you are already to blame,” the expert noted.

Leonkov noted the importance of the statement of the Ministry of Defense about fueling the rocket.

“This argument was made specifically, I think, so that the Americans would not say:“ Aha, you fill up half the fuel at the plant, and upon arrival at the military unit, fill it with the rest. ” That is, we had a short-range missile, but came to the troops, it was refueled there and it became a longer-range missile. No, they were told: “Everything is done at the factory,” the expert explained.

The expert emphasized that the arguments given by the military department during the briefing turned out to be exhaustive.

“Even much more was said. The Ministry of Defense took unprecedented steps, it told about a new type of weapon, ”the expert believes.

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According to him, it’s not worth waiting for a similar step from the Americans, which may indicate the likelihood of violations on the part of Washington.

“Can the American side do the same for those missiles that we suspect and insist that they violate the INF Treaty? I think not, which, unfortunately, is an additional confirming fact that Americans have long been working on short- and medium-range missiles that are subject to the treaty, ”the expert concluded.

"Enormous funds will go to the US defense industry"

At the same time, Washington, accusing Moscow of violating the INF Treaty, under the guise of missile defense tests, works out technologies of shorter and medium-range missiles, said at a briefing Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

“We had and still have every reason to believe that, under the guise of anti-missile tests, or simultaneously with them, the technological potential of ground-based medium-range and lower-level ballistic missiles is developed, according to the Treaty of range,” the diplomat said.

According to Ryabkov, 15 years ago the United States unilaterally turned down the work of one of the supervisory commission of the INF Committee in response to Russia's concern about the observance of certain clauses of the treaty by the American side.

Then it was about the development and production of the first Washington samples drone drone. As Ryabkov stressed, this type of armament "fully falls under the definition contained in the INFMT of a medium-range cruise missile."

As Ryabkov noted, the United States clearly indicated its intention to withdraw from the treaty and is not going to engage in dialogue.

“Almost immediately, this intention was confirmed to us through bilateral channels, and a clear explanation was given that the announced step was not an invitation to dialogue, and the decision was made due to the combination of circumstances and is final,” Ryabkov summed up.

To withdraw from the treaty, the United States does not need any arguments or evidence of the violation by the Russian side of any positions of this treaty, says Doctor of Political Sciences, a professor at Moscow State University, Andrei Manoilo.

“The fact is that Trump made this decision, for himself, long before the propaganda company started about the uselessness of this agreement for the interests of America. I accepted it based on my personal interests and my own pragmatic calculation, ”the political scientist believes.

After the cancellation of the contract, colossal funds will go to the US military-industrial complex, which is largely owned by the allies of the White House.

“Trump feeds his supporters, who strongly supported him and promoted him during the election campaign,” says Manoilo.

Such actions will also help the president to fulfill numerous election promises, the expert believes.

“Under this money and tasks, the OPK will create new jobs, a huge number of them. And in his election campaign, Trump promised to create jobs for Americans. Trump recounts these places, writes them on Twitter, and America will see that the president is keeping his word, ”says Manoilo.

According to the expert, the American leader needs such an outcome, and his administration does not expect a response from Russia to the accusations.

“They are so sluggishly and lazily accusing Russia, without being tempted to get an answer from Russia or some kind of test documents, because they are not at all interested in them,” the political scientist concluded.