Lavrov: US gave Russia list of complaints on Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
The US, before announcing its plans to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, presented Russia with a list of complaints concerning Russia’s compliance with the treaty.
“Russia is preparing a response to these issues,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with the radio program “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” on October 25, the transcription of which was published on Sunday, October 28, on the official Russian Foreign Ministry website.
“Literally a week ago, several days before they announced their intention to withdraw from the INF Treaty, through their embassy in Moscow the Americans sent the Russian Foreign Ministry a detailed list of issues which raise their suspicions. They finally gave it to us, in response to our requests to be informed of what is concerning them and on what basis they are concluding that we are not complying with the treaty,” Lavrov explained.
The list was circulated between the Russian Defense Ministry and other departments, in order to examine the complaints and start preparing a response “to the American concern,” the Russian diplomat noted.
On October 21, US President Donald Trump announced that the US plans to withdraw from the INF Treaty, citing Russian violations of the treaty’s terms. US National Security Advisor John Bolton recently held negotiations with Moscow on this topic.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has called the US’s decision “a very dangerous step”, whereas the UK affirmed its absolute support of the decision.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on October 22 that he is understanding of the US’s decision to withdraw from the 1987 treaty.
The INF Treaty, which was signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev at the end of the Cold War in the 1980s, saw the elimination of the entire class of ground-based missiles, both nuclear and non-nuclear, with a range between 500 and 5,500 km. Washington believes that Moscow has violated the agreement by creating the intermediate-range Novator 9M729 missile, which could be used to deliver a lighting-fast strike against NATO countries.