"Justify your actions": how the United States ignores Russia's arms control proposals

Moscow invites the United States to seriously consider the arms control initiative to avoid a new missile crisis.

This is stated in the message of the Russian Embassy in the United States.

“Nobody wants another missile crisis.

President Putin's proposals provide for compromise approaches for the benefit of all states.

We propose that our American partners consider them seriously, ”the Russian diplomatic mission wrote on Twitter.

Thus, the embassy responded to the post of the US President's special envoy for arms control Marshall Billingsley, who blamed Russia for dismantling the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty).

“It seems that Russia now regrets that its more than 10 years of deception led to the collapse of the INF Treaty.

The United States and our allies have faced this before.

It didn't work out in the 80s.

It won't work now either, ”wrote Billingsley.

Detente offer

Earlier, on October 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a proposal for additional steps to de-escalate the situation in Europe in the context of the termination of the INF Treaty.

The Russian leader's statement emphasized that Russia continues to consider this document "an important element of the architecture for ensuring international security and strategic stability," and the US withdrawal from the treaty was a "serious mistake" that increased the risk of "uncontrolled escalation."

Putin's proposal was that Moscow, of its own free will, is ready not to deploy 9M729 missiles in the European part of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, NATO should also take counter steps to de-escalate - for example, provide an opportunity to check Aegis Ashore complexes with Mk-41 launchers at bases in Europe as an equivalent exchange for checking 9M729 missiles at Kaliningrad facilities.

• American Minuteman III missile launch

• Reuters

• © Kyla Gifford / US Air Force Photo

Berlin soon reacted to the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation, saying that the calls of the Russian side for a moratorium on the deployment of missiles in Europe did not inspire confidence.

“Secretary General Stoltenberg spoke about this last year.

In light of the fact that Russia itself withdrew from the INF Treaty, the NATO Secretary General said that the moratorium or such a refusal (from the deployment of missiles -

) does not inspire confidence.

We share this assessment, ”TASS quotes the spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry Andrea Sasse.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, in turn, called this position irresponsible.

“They speculate on the mentality of the mainstream, which has long since lost the ability to take an open-minded approach to signals emanating from Moscow.

This is a reflection of the general decline in qualifications, including in Berlin, Brussels and other capitals, ”the diplomat said.

Shortly after Vladimir Putin launched an initiative to de-escalate the situation in Europe, the US President's National Security Assistant Robert O'Brien said that the United States, if necessary, is ready to deploy intermediate and shorter-range missiles on the European continent to "contain" Russia.

“We are developing hypersonic weapons and ballistic missile delivery systems that will keep America safe, protect our allies, and contain China.

If necessary, we will deploy the same missiles in Europe to contain Russia, ”O'Brien said.

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov, in response, urged not to escalate the missile arms race and announced Moscow's readiness for joint efforts to defuse the situation in Europe.

“Such intentions threaten to imbalance regional and global security and lead to an increase in confrontational potential.

We believe that the parallel drawn by a high-ranking official to the missile crisis in Europe in the early 1980s, which led to the signing of the INF Treaty, is unfounded.

If Washington is really interested in "real arms control", then there is no need for an escalation of the missile arms race on the European continent, "Antonov said in a statement.

According to experts, Vladimir Putin's proposal speaks of Moscow's readiness to seek any forms and methods of interaction on this issue that would help stabilize the situation in Europe.

“For decades, the United States has been constantly accusing Russia of allegedly being a threat to the world, doing everything to oppose mechanisms that would ensure global stability, especially in the field of nuclear weapons.

But in fact, this is not the case, which is demonstrated by the unilateral withdrawals of the United States from the ABM and INF treaties, "Andrei Koshkin, a member of the Academy of Military Sciences, emphasized in an interview with RT.

Scope of security

Recall that the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty), concluded on December 8, 1987 between the USSR and the United States, prohibited the production, testing and deployment of ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5.5 thousand km.

All missiles in service (and in storage), launchers, simulators and test equipment were subject to complete destruction.

By 1991, the Soviet Union had disposed of the Pioneer and Temp-S complexes and the R-12 and R-14 ballistic missiles.

Also, Moscow, as a gesture of goodwill, got rid of the Oka OTRK, which was not formally covered by the agreement.

In turn, the Pentagon got rid of Pershing systems and ground versions of the Tomahawk cruise missile.

However, in recent years, Washington has begun to accuse Moscow of violating the INF Treaty, without supporting its claims with evidence.

As a result, on August 2, 2019, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the treaty.

• Russian Foreign Ministry

• RIA News

• © Maxim Blinov

The formal pretext for this step was claims against the Russian 9M729 cruise missile for the Iskander-M operational-tactical complex, which allegedly violated the provisions of the treaty.

In 2019, the Russian Ministry of Defense demonstrated this cruise missile to foreign military personnel and journalists at a special briefing, but representatives of the United States and other NATO member states refused to attend.

Andrei Koshkin believes that now Washington intends to destroy the last mechanisms for controlling the proliferation of strategic arms, including the START-3 Treaty.

“In order to justify their actions, the RF is accused of everything.

Even the US allies in Europe, when Washington unilaterally withdrew from the INF Treaty, worried that it did not protect them, then a trick was invented in the form of a two-month period during which Russia must prove that it is not violating the treaty, ”he recalled political scientist.

Marshall Billingsley's new statements about Russia's “guilt” in dismantling the INF Treaty can only be regarded as an opportunistic attempt to justify pressure on Moscow, military expert Yuri Knutov said in an interview with RT.

“In fact, the Russian side did everything to preserve the INF Treaty, even provided its missiles for study.

However, NATO member states ignored this step, because the United States needed an excuse to withdraw from this treaty, ”the expert emphasized.

The fact that this document at one time was signed and it existed for more than 30 years, Yuri Knutov considers the merit of the USSR and its legal successor - the Russian Federation.

“Russia has demonstrated that it is ready to make rather serious concessions, allowing its missiles to be tested in Kaliningrad and subsequently transferred to the Urals, from where they will not be able to“ reach ”NATO countries.

However, the United States demands unilateral disarmament and the provision of some advantages to them.

The alliance declares its desire to extend the treaty for a year if it applies to all Russian tactical nuclear weapons, which are now holding back NATO troops from invading Russian territory, "Knutov concluded.