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Brussels (AFP) – NATO on Wednesday called on Russia to fully comply with the Cold War Nuclear Weapons Treaty after US President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the deal.
The message came after a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels.
NATO Allies urge Russia … to ensure full compliance with the Treaty on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF), said the transatlantic alliance in a statement published at the end of the negotiations.
"While being ready to continue the dialogue on this issue with Russia, as an Alliance, we are also committed to taking effective measures to continue to ensure the security of all Allies," the statement added.
Trump raised concerns earlier this month when he announced that he wanted to withdraw from the INF treaty, pillar of the disarmament of the Cold War, in response to Russia's deployment of a missile system , said Washington would violate the agreement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned last week that the abandonment of the INF agreement could lead to a new arms race. He promised to react in this way if the United States deployed new missiles on European soil.
Trump's decision is not supported by all NATO members and the alliance leader, Jens Stoltenberg, insisted that he had not been there. no will to revive the cold war or launch a new arms race.
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that Moscow had not responded to the Alliance's concerns regarding its missile program SSC-8 (known in Russia as the name of 9M729), which, according to Trump, violates the 1987 INF agreement
Russia's representative at the talks in Brussels assured that the new missile system would not violate the agreement and confirmed that Russia would provide the requested explanations, said a diplomatic source.
European NATO members consider the FNI to be essential to security in Europe and express great concern about the potential risks of breaking the treaty.
INF has resolved a crisis concerning Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles targeting Western capitals.
Washington and Moscow have been called to calm the situation "but it is very difficult," said a diplomat.
US-Russian relations are severely undermined by accusations that Moscow mingled with the 2016 US presidential election. The two countries also disagree over Russian support for the Syrian government in the civil war and in the conflict in Ukraine.
The US plan to withdraw INF also targets China. As a non-signatory, Beijing can develop intermediate-range nuclear weapons without constraint.
Wednesday's talks in Brussels have also sought to ease tensions caused by NATO's largest military exercises since the end of the Cold War off the Norwegian coast.
Stoltenberg informed the Russian representative of the objectives of Trident Juncture exercises.
The maneuvers aim to train the Atlantic Alliance in the defense of a member state after an assault.
The Russian side also presented its largest ever military exercise, Vostok-2018, in September in Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East.
