"Main intruder": Russia and China convened a meeting of the UN Security Council due to US missile tests

An extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council on US missile development will be held on Thursday, August 22. We are talking about the creation by the American side of arms that violate the provisions of the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty), which has recently terminated.

This was announced to TASS by the acting Russian permanent representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky. According to him, the corresponding request for an emergency meeting was sent by Russia and China.

“Together with China, we requested a Security Council meeting today in connection with US statements about plans to develop and deploy medium-range missiles,” the agency quoted Polyansky as saying.

According to him, the meeting will be held in an open format with a report by the representative of the UN Secretary General and will begin around 15:00 local time (22:00 Moscow time).

The reason for the convening of the UN Security Council was the Pentagon’s announcement of flight tests of a cruise missile, which had previously been prohibited by the INF Treaty. This was announced by the American defense department on Monday, August 19.

The American side also published launch footage and clarified that the tests of a ground-based cruise missile of a conventional (non-nuclear) configuration took place on the island of San Nicholas, located in California. According to the Pentagon, the missile "just hit the target after more than 500 km of flight."

In an interview with RT, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Alexei Chepa noted the importance of bringing international discussion of US actions.

“This issue needs to be raised, it is necessary that all countries hear the truth that is, and appropriate measures must be taken. It is very important that Russia and China proposed raising a question at the Security Council - to open the eyes of the world to US actions on this issue, ”said the parliamentarian.

Recall that the provisions of the INF Treaty concluded in 1987 prohibited the production, testing and deployment of land-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5.5 thousand km.

The Russian side responded to the launch of a missile falling under the INF Treaty. According to the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, recent tests indicated that the United States had prepared in advance to undermine the agreement.

“As for the test in non-nuclear performance of medium-range missiles by the Americans. This news arrived in time yesterday at the moment of communication of two presidents - Putin and Macron. And just Putin noted that such tests, they once again show that the Americans from the very beginning were working to undermine the INF Treaty, that the Americans were preparing this from the very beginning, ”Peskov said.

He emphasized that preparing for such tests requires considerable time, which means it is impossible to organize this in a few weeks.

“This once again testifies that it was not Russia, but the United States that, by its actions, led to the breakdown of the INF Treaty,” Peskov concluded.

In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that American tests prove that preparations for them began long before the US formal withdrawal from the agreement that occurred on August 2.

“This was being prepared for a long time, long before August 2, when the legal obligations of the parties under the INF Treaty formally expired,” the minister said.

As Lavrov specified, the assistant to the President of the United States for National Security, John Bolton, during a visit to Russia in October 2018, made it clear that the decision to withdraw from the INF Treaty in Washington was already made.

“He told us ... that Trump’s statement about the need to withdraw from this treaty is not an invitation to dialogue, this is the final decision made. Apparently, even then, maybe even earlier, they began to prepare the tests that took place, ”Lavrov explained.

We add that the United States recognized that the development of the banned INF Treaty missile launched in February. This was announced by the Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Robert Carver.

“After the United States suspended its obligations under the INF Treaty in February 2019, the Department of Defense began the conceptual design of ground-based cruise missile systems and ballistic missiles,” RIA Novosti quoted Carver as saying.

According to a Pentagon spokesman, Washington had previously stated that after withdrawing from the agreement, it would research and develop conventional ground-based cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. However, he said that the development is at an early stage and it will not be ready for deployment in only a few years.

Commenting on recent events, Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, noted that the convening of an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council was in line with the situation.

“In itself, this topic falls within the format of the Security Council, because US actions have a significant impact on the global security system,” the expert believes.

The interlocutor of RT also called attention to the fact that the United States unilaterally withdrew from the treaty.

“In this sense, the United States, which loves to say that they are the main guarantor of the global system of international security and adhere to international law and often teach other countries, in this case, are the main violator of this system,” Shapovalov emphasized.

In turn, a member of the Presidential Council on Interethnic Relations under the President of Russia, Bogdan Bezpalko, in a conversation with RT, noted that the United States provoked Russia to suspend its membership by disproportionate demands, after which Washington conducted tests of a missile covered by the INF Treaty, which was clearly ready earlier.

“It was obvious that the United States itself destroyed the INF Treaty, probably as one of the treaties that prevented them from achieving a military advantage over other countries, primarily Russia and China,” the expert said.

At the same time, he stated that the tools of the UN Security Council are very limited and it will not be easy to influence the US position.

“Probably the UN Security Council will call on the United States to abandon the tests of this missile, and will call for other actions aimed at appeasing the situation. But in general, the United States has long been contrary to UN actions, UN resolutions, including the Security Council. The functionality of this international organization is already limited, and it cannot hold back the US, ”concluded Bezpalko.