MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/: Russia will have to carry out additional analysis of threats to national security and strategic stability with regard to US plans to arm its military forces with short-and medium-range missiles as soon as possible, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The statement comes in response to the Department of State’s report, headlined Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments (Compliance Report), released on Friday.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, instead of searching for ways to save the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), the United States blocked all opportunities to take the discussion onto a constructive path and completed the procedure to terminate the treaty on August 2. As a result, Washington has dealt a new serious blow to the arms control system, which took decades to be build.
"Far-reaching negative consequences for international security in several key regions of the world look practically inevitable," the ministry said.
On top of that, Pentagon tested a Tomahavk-family cruise missiles with range prohibited under the INF treaty two weeks after the treaty was terminated.
"The Mk-41 launcher was used for the purpose. Therefore… it was exactly the combination of a rocket and a launcher, which was the main element of Russia’s concerns about the US side’s implementation of the INF treaty," the ministry said. "Not only this confirms that our longtime concern - which the United States kept ignoring - was justified, but it also proves that Washington was preparing to terminate the treaty and was engaged in creating weapons prohibited by the treaty for quite a while."
"In this context, and in connection with Pentagon’s calls to equip the US armed forces with short-and medium-range missiles, Russia will be forced to carry out additional analysis of correspondign threats to national security and strategic stability, including those posed by US-made Aegis Ashore systems with Mk-41 launchers, being deployed in Europe and scheduled for deployment in the Pacific reigon."
The ministry stressed that Russia keeps the door open for an equal and constructive dialogue with the United States with the purpose to boost transparency and international security.
Besides, the ministry called upon Washington "to refrain from destabilizing measures related to the missile sector and from steps that provoke the international arms race, and to undertake commitments not to deploy the above-mentioned missile types similar to a moratorium earlier declared by Russia.".
