United States and Russia, outside the nuclear disarmament treaty | Chronic

Russia was ready to reapply the "eye for an eye and tooth for tooth" principle in its foreign and defense policy and announced that it was suspending its participation in the nuclear disarmament treaty (INF) in response to the measure. similar adopted Friday by the United States.

"We will give a symmetrical answer (in the United States), our North American partners have announced that they are suspending their participation in the treaty, because we are doing it too"said the Russian president, Vladimir Poutine, at a meeting with foreign ministers, Sergey Lavrovand defense, Serguei Shoigú.

The Russian leader reacted to the statement of his American counterpart, Donald Trump, who announced that Washington would begin February 2 "the withdrawal process of the INF Treaty, which will be completed in six months unless Russia returns to comply" with what was agreed in the 1987 agreement "destroying all missiles, shuttles and badociated equipment that violate" your terms.

If the withdrawal were to take effect, the United States could position its missile systems in Europe, while Russia could do the same on its territories bordering the European Union or other geographical areas.

The Russian president said that Russia does not intend to deploy missiles "neither in Europe nor in other parts of the world"It does not do it before the United States.

In addition, he badured that Moscow would not be dragged into a new arms race, although the Ministry of Defense was authorized to begin work for the development of a new medium-range hypersonic missile. which, according to the experts, could be extended by two. years

Putin rejected at the time the ultimatum presented by the United States that gave 60 days to Moscow to comply in a "verifiable" way with the INF Treaty, the first nuclear disarmament agreement of the Cold War, considered until 39 now as one of the pillars of global strategy security

Moscow considers as "inadmissible" the demand for the destruction of Russian cruise missile Novator 9M729, which, according to NATO, violates the INF by exceeding the 500 km range.

At the same time, the Russian Ministry of Defense, which recently showed the missile to the press, claims that its radius of action does not exceed 480 km, which is part of the treaty.

As Lavrov insisted, Russia "He tried to do everything to save" INF gave his "importance for the strategic security of Europe and the rest of the world".

The Russian Chancellor badured that Moscow was willing to "unprecedented transparency measures", above its obligations under the treaty, to convince Americans that it does not violate the INF.

At the same time, he warned that the US decision to abandon the INF also compromised the future of the START-3 treaty, which limits strategic offensive weaponry and expires in 2021, and whose negotiations are at a standstill.

For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the United States had begun to prepare the ground for abandoning the INF Treaty almost two years ago, when they started to manufacture missiles for short and long-range missiles. medium range in one of his country's military factories. state of Arizona.

Theoretically, the United States and Russia may still change their minds over the next six months to save the INF, but the Russian Vice-Chancellor himself Sergei Ryabkov it virtually excluded that option by making the US decision seem "irreversible" despite the "brutal setback" it implies for the entire arms control system around the world.