The heads of NATO member states intend to officially oppose the alliance's deployment of land-based nuclear missiles in Europe.

It is expected that such a decision will be made following the summit with the participation of US President Joe Biden in Brussels on June 14.

This is reported by the American military-political publication Defense News, citing sources in the US Senate and the European Union.

In particular, the material says that such a provision is allegedly contained in the draft communiqué, which will be circulated at the end of the summit of the North Atlantic Alliance.

According to Defense News, a statement is needed to launch a dialogue on arms control between Washington and Moscow.

"This step is seen as an opportunity to ease tensions with Moscow and start a dialogue on arms control in the run-up to the Russia-US summit in Geneva on June 16," the newspaper writes.

Recall that the upcoming meeting will be the first summit of Russia and the United States at the level of heads of state since 2018.

It will be the culmination of Biden's first overseas tour as head of the White House, during which he also takes part in the G7 summit in the UK and the EU-US summit in Brussels.

Collapse of the system

Recall that the deployment of strategic missile weapons in Europe until recently was regulated by the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty).

This document was signed in 1987 by the USSR and the USA and 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.

Despite the fact that Russia, as the successor to the USSR, has followed the terms of the treaty over the past decades, Washington regularly accused Moscow of violating its terms.

For example, in 2014, then US President Barack Obama sent a letter to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in which for the first time at the level of heads of state he accused Moscow of non-compliance with the provisions of the INF Treaty.

  • Minuteman rocket launch

  • Reuters

  • © Ballistic Missile Defense Organization

In 2018, the Donald Trump administration announced that it would leave the treaty because of the Russian 9M729 cruise missile, which, according to Washington, is supposedly capable of covering a distance of over 500 km.

At the same time, the United States itself deployed Mk41 installations in Eastern Europe as part of the expansion of the missile defense system.

However, Russia has repeatedly indicated that these installations can also be used to launch medium-range missiles.

Moscow tried in every possible way to preserve the agreement - the Russian Defense Ministry even held a special briefing for foreign military attaches with a demonstration of the 9M729 missile and its technical characteristics, but the representatives of the United States and NATO ignored it.

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

At the same time, the Trump administration has repeatedly emphasized that it will go to the conclusion of a new agreement only on the condition that China joins it.

Subsequently, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO countries do not intend to deploy new ground-based nuclear missiles in Europe, adding that the alliance "does not want a new arms race."

After the United States left the INF Treaty, Moscow proposed that European countries join a voluntary moratorium on the deployment of intermediate and shorter-range missiles.

In turn, Vladimir Putin said that Russia would not deploy missiles covered by the INF Treaty in regions where similar American systems would not be deployed.

However, Moscow's initiative on a voluntary moratorium was rejected: NATO and European countries said that it "does not inspire confidence."

"Positive step"

Representatives of the Biden administration, in particular, the head of the US Department of State Anthony Blinken, have repeatedly talked about their intention to cooperate with Russia in the field of strategic security and arms control.

So, after taking office as head of state in January 2021, Joe Biden extended the Strategic Arms Treaty (START III) for five years, the fate of which remained unclear for a long time due to the actions of the previous US administration.

  • Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, 2011

  • © REUTERS / Alexander Natruskin

At the same time, the 46th president did not begin to revise Trump's decision to withdraw Washington from the Open Skies Treaty in November 2020.

At the end of May this year, the American side informed the Russian Foreign Ministry that it did not intend to return to the agreement.

Moscow later noted that without the participation of the United States and Russia, the DON loses its viability, despite the desire of other participants (for example, Germany) to maintain its effect.

The current intention of NATO leaders to announce the refusal of the alliance's deployment of ground-based nuclear missiles in Europe, the head of the Center for Political-Military Studies of the Institute for the United States and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Batyuk, called an attempt to "patch the gap" in the security system that emerged after Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the INF Treaty.

"This decision, if it is ultimately adopted, is quite important, because it is designed to solve a serious problem that arose after the unilateral US withdrawal from the INF Treaty: Washington then had a real opportunity to deploy its medium-range ballistic missiles in Europe," says Batyuk.

From his point of view, the buildup of American strategic potential in the EU would inevitably entail retaliatory steps from the Russian Federation, and in such conditions the Union countries could become a likely theater of military operations.

“Among other things, this NATO decision means that the alliance has stopped at the edge of the abyss.

In addition, this step creates favorable political conditions for the successful holding of the Russian-American summit, ”Batyuk said.

He noted that now this has become possible thanks to the desire of the Biden administration, including to normalize relations between the United States and its European allies.

“Such a step will have a positive impact on strategic stability in Europe,” the analyst explained.

In turn, the leading expert of the RISS Research Coordination Center, Sergei Ermakov, notes that such an intention must be necessarily enshrined in the official documents of the alliance.

“We can assume that common sense prevailed in NATO - European countries adhere to the point of view that the buildup of nuclear weapons in Europe will lead to disaster,” Yermakov stressed.

According to him, from the outside it looks as if the NATO states make all decisions by consensus, but in fact it is the position of the United States that determines the further agenda of the alliance.

“This is a positive step, but it is necessary for the alliance to further unfreeze the partnership within the Russia-NATO Council and put forward real proposals for further cooperation between the bloc countries and Russia, including in the field of nuclear arms control,” concluded Ermakov.