“Contain Moscow and China”: Shoigu spoke about the reasons for the US to withdraw from the INF Treaty

There is a high probability that the United States deployed in Asia and Europe those missiles that had previously been banned by the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles. This was stated by the Minister of Defense of Russia Sergey Shoigu. According to him, in this way Washington will deliberately create a tense atmosphere in the region.

“There is every reason to believe that American strike weapons, previously banned by the INF Treaty, are highly likely to be deployed in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe to provoke tension. Such a decision will inevitably lead to an arms race, increased conflict potential, and increase the likelihood of incidents, ”said the Minister.

With such a statement, the head of the Russian defense department made a speech at the Xiangshan forum in Beijing. It is organized by the China Association of Military Sciences and the Chinese Institute for International Strategic Studies, and senior officials, defense ministers and experts from the Asia-Pacific region and some European countries take part in it.

Shoigu stressed that those countries that allow the United States to deploy the INF Treaty will in fact "become hostages of American politics." Moreover, the withdrawal of the States from the treaty is explained by the desire to confront Russia and China, the minister said.

“We are convinced that the real reason that prompted Washington to unilaterally withdraw from the INF Treaty is the containment of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation,” said Shoigu. “The agreement has ceased to be in the interests of the United States amid the growing military and economic power of China, the restoration of Russia's defense potential and the expansion of military and military-technical cooperation between the two states.”

According to Shoigu, the United States contributes to the "destruction of a multi-level security system" in the field of arms control.

“This is the refusal of the United States to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and its unilateral withdrawal from the treaties on limiting missile defense systems and eliminating intermediate and shorter-range missiles,” he explained.

Nevertheless, according to the head of the defense department, Russia is ready to conduct a dialogue in order to maintain regional stability.

“Russia is opposed to this scenario (deployment of the INF Treaty in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. - RT ),” said Shoigu. “We are ready for dialogue on maintaining regional stability, developing confidence-building measures and interaction with all interested parties.”

• Shoigu declared the risk of deploying American INF troops in Asia and Europe

China also opposed the appearance of the INF Treaty in the Asia-Pacific region. The head of the Ministry of Defense of the PRC and member of the State Council of the country, General Wei Fenghe, emphasized that such a step can "only have a negative effect on security in the region and destabilize it."

“Security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific must be open and inclusive. We firmly oppose the pursuit of an exclusive security strategy, as well as attempts to deploy medium-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region and create military alliances against other countries that are being undertaken by individual states outside the region, ”he emphasized.

Earlier, the US administration admitted that the United States could place its INF in the Asia-Pacific region. Moreover, according to Andrea Thompson, the then US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Washington and its allies are discussing the deployment of these missiles in the Asia-Pacific region.

“To make a decision on this matter is the sovereign right of the leaders of these states,” she said in an interview with the Associated Press in August.

“After 16 days, tests of a cruise missile were carried out”

Recall that the INF Treaty expired on August 2 at the initiative of the United States. The agreement implied the refusal of Russia and the United States to manufacture, deploy and use land-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5.5 thousand km and their delivery vehicles - for example, launchers.

At the same time, Shoigu reminded, the USA violated the INF Treaty for many years. This is confirmed by the fact that the US military tested a previously banned rocket just 16 days after withdrawing from the treaty, the minister said.

“They created shock unmanned aerial vehicles, used medium-range ballistic missiles as target missiles, deployed Mk-41 launchers in Europe, originally designed to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles. This is confirmed by the fact that 16 days after the denunciation of the Treaty, tests were carried out on a ground-based cruise missile, which, according to the USA, hit the target at a distance of over 500 kilometers, ”Shoigu emphasized.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intention to leave the contract in the fall of 2018. He explained this decision as “violations” of the provisions of the agreement on the part of Russia, but he did not cite specific examples.

Russia categorically denies all allegations. Moreover, Moscow has repeatedly initiated a dialogue to preserve the INF Treaty. So, when the United States stated that the Russian 9M729 missile violates the agreement, the Russian Defense Ministry took an unprecedented step - organized a briefing for foreign military attaches. During it, evidence was demonstrated that the missile meets the requirements of the contract. However, there were no representatives of the United States and some NATO countries at the briefing.

In early February, the United States delivered an ultimatum to Russia. As stated in Washington, if Moscow doesn’t “return” to the INF Treaty within six months, they will leave the agreement. During a meeting with Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia had taken all possible steps to maintain the agreement, but would now wait for initiatives from the United States.

At the same time, Putin emphasized that the Russian Federation will act in a mirror manner - the production, testing and deployment of Russian INF will only occur in response to similar actions by the American administration.

Later, commenting on the US withdrawal from the INF Treaty, Putin noted that this poses a threat of a global nature.

“The unilateral, on a far-fetched pretext, US withdrawal from the INF Treaty and the destruction of one of the fundamental documents in the field of arms control have seriously complicated the situation in the world and created fundamental risks for everyone. I emphasize: the responsibility for what happened lies entirely with the American side, ”he said.

In early September, Lavrov said that Russia had invited NATO countries to mutually abandon plans to deploy INF. On October 18, the minister, speaking of the situation around this initiative, noted that there was no response from the United States and members of the alliance.

“We translated it (the statement on non-deployment of the INF Treaty. - RT ) then into the form of a proposal that was made to the Americans and NATO members to adopt a bilateral reciprocal mutual moratorium on the deployment of such weapons anywhere, starting from Europe and also in Asia. There is no answer, ”Interfax quoted him as saying.