IMAGE: Ronald Gutridge / U.S. Navy
The US is actively working to withdraw from military treaties with Russia creating a pre-war situation in the diplomatic relations between Washington and Moscow.
On October 20, US President Donald Trump confirmed that U.S. would be abandoning the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. After a rally in Elko, Nevada, the President claimed that Russia has been “violating it for many years”.
“We’ll have to develop those weapons,” Trump said. “We’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out.”
Furthermore, Washington is going to withdraw for another nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia – New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty). Under New START signed on 8 April 2010, the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers will be reduced by half. Reports that the Trump administration would withdraw from it started actively appearing in the media citing senior White House officials on October 21.
The US stance on these key deals faced a strong response from Moscow. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated that the US withdrawal from the INF Treaty would be a very dangerous step, which would be definitely condemned by the international community.
“The issue is too serious to be dealt with through public debate. If the United States continues to act so clumsily and harshly, as we can see it do on numerous occasions, if it continues to unilaterally withdraw from agreements, different kinds of accords and mechanisms, and the examples are piling up — from the JCPOA on Iran to the Universal Postal Union — then we will have nothing left to do but to take retaliatory measures, including ones of military and technological nature. But we would like to avoid that. The US clumsy and harsh politics sees more and more rejection in a lot of countries and wide circles of international community. Washington should not underestimate these shifts in sentiment,” Ryabkov said.
He also stated that Russia condemns US attempts to achieve Moscow’s concessions in international security issues through blackmail.
“We condemn the continuing attempts to achieve Russia’s concessions through blackmail, moreover in such an issue which has importance for international security and security in the nuclear weapons sphere, for maintaining strategic stability,” he said.
