INF Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty - Russian Views

Vladimir Putin on October 26, 2020 proposed additional steps to de-escalate the situation in Europe in the wake of the termination of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty). He stated : "we reiterate our adherence to the moratorium on the deployment of ground-based INF missiles earlier declared by the Russian Federation until US-made missiles of similar classes are deployed in the corresponding regions. We also believe that our call to NATO countries to consider the possibility of declaring a counter-moratorium remains relevant.

" ... we could focus on the verification measures with regard to the Aegis Ashore complexes with Mk-41 launchers that are deployed at US and NATO bases in Europe, as well as 9M729 missiles at the facilities operated by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the Kaliningrad Region. The verification measures would confirm the absence of ground-based INF missiles on the facilities covered by the agreements, as well as the weapons, on the specifications and classification of which the parties were unable to reach an agreement (Russian 9M729 missile).

"Remaining committed to the consistent position on the full compliance of the 9M729 missile with the provisions of the previously existing INF Treaty, the Russian Federation, nevertheless, is ready, in the spirit of good will, to continue not to deploy 9M729 missiles in European Russia, but do so only provided NATO countries take reciprocal steps that preclude the deployment of the weapons earlier prohibited under the INF Treaty in Europe."

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov told students at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California on 19 October 2018 that "We are accused of violating the Treaty by allegedly possessing a certain 9M729 missile that violates the accord’s provisions. However, we do not see any clear facts or arguments that could lead to conclusions of violations... A simple question: when and where was it tested? Who confirmed that the missile traveled over 500 kilometers, surpassing the distance allowed by the INF Treaty?"

Thirty years after the conclusion of the treaty, both signatories accuse each other of violating the INF. In Russia, for example, they believe that anti-missiles for ground installations of the American Aegis-Aegis Ashore missile defense system can be replaced if necessary with medium-range cruise missiles, which would be a direct violation of the treaty. "They [the United States] put the systems - supposedly anti-missile systems - in Romania. And how did they deliver them? They installed the Aegis launch systems, removed them from the sea and installed them. But in these systems, the anti-missile systems can be easily replaced simply with medium-range missiles," Russian president at a big press conference on December 14, 2017.

Russia said the US violates the INF Treaty by deploying Mark 41 Vertical Launching System (MK-41) in Romania and Poland. The MK-41 launchers are currently used for defensive purposes, but Moscow alleges they can be repurposed to fire offensive missiles. The US violations had included the development of a land-based version of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System known as the Aegis Ashore system. The Aegis Ashore system deployed in Deveselu, Rumania, the analyst added, could launch Tomahawk cruise missile armed with nuclear weapons, the TLAM-N, which has a maximum range of 1,500 miles. Another Aegis Ashore site is being established in northern Poland and Japan also planned to deploy the systems. Rumania and Poland each could have potentially 24 Tomahawk missiles ready to launch, with a total of 48 cruise missiles threatening European Russia, plus Japan having the potential to deploy up to 48 Tomahawk missiles ready to launch in its planned two sites, threatening the Russian Far East.

Accusations by Washington that Moscow had violated the INF Treaty were actually an attempt by the US to obtain classified data on missile projects that were developed by Russia, the country's deputy foreign minister said 26 November 2018. In view of those accusations, Moscow "received several question lists" from the US, according to Sergey Ryabkov. "The subject of many questions by the Americans far exceeded Russia's obligations as part of the treaty, and were rightly perceived by us as an attempt to 'scan' our newest missile developments," he told a briefing in Moscow.

The Americans even pressed Russia to reveal the dates on which tests of a certain class of missile were carried out, "so that the US side could themselves pinpoint the questionable launches," he added. In other words, for a long time we were asked to 'solve the puzzle' from various scattered elements and then to name the missile, which the US believed didn't conform with the INF Treaty.

The deputy foreign minister said that such an approach was about making Russia "confess to the violation, which it did not commit." Moscow had no other choice but to "reject such an intrusive attempt." At the same, the Americans "haven't presented any real piece of evidence confirming our violations of the INF Treaty," Ryabkov pointed out. Russia has no munitions that violate the INF Treaty, he confirmed. The 9 729 missile, which was the subject of concern from Washington, wasn't developed or tested to reach the distances outlawed by the accord, he added.

Despite the US clearly being out of line, Moscow still "showed some transparency in the spirit of good will," but this didn't change the American stance in any way, the Russian diplomat said. "They have decided everything for themselves a long time ago, the only thing they wanted from Russia is a confession of its guilt," he added.

Ryabkov warned that, with the course of action chosen by the US administration, "we can't exclude a collapse of the whole system of arms control, which took decades to build." However, the deputy FM affirmed that Russia's nuclear doctrine remains unchanged and is purely defensive in nature. There are only two "hypothetical scenarios" in which nuclear arms could be used by Russia, he explained. "The first one is the use of nuclear weapons or other types of weapons of mass destruction against Russia. The second is an [act of] aggression against Russia with the use of conventional weapons on such a scale that the very existence of our state is threatened."

Putin said 04 December 2018 the United States had decided to leave the accord long before the public announcement and used alleged violations by Russia as a pretext to do it. "This means that the decision has long been made, but it has been made sneakily. They thought we wouldn't notice this, but this is already in the Pentagon's budget — the creation of these missiles. But only after did they announce publicly that they were leaving", Putin said. "As the next step, they started to think whom they could shuffle the blame onto. Well, to say 'Russia is to blame' is the easiest and the most habitual thing for an ordinary Western person. This is not true, we are against the destruction of the treaty, but if it happens, we will react accordingly", he added.

The president agreed that many other countries are still developing intermediate and short-range missiles, while Russia and the US had limited themselves under the INF Treaty. At the same time, he added that if Washington believes that it should have such weapons, Moscow will follow suit. "This is true. Many other countries, perhaps, already a dozen of countries, are producing such weapons, while Russia and the United States have restrained themselves bilaterally. I believe our US partners think that now the situation has changed to such an extent that the United States should have such weapons as well. What answer will we provide? A simple one: then we'll do it as well", Putin said.

He further recalled that the US had unilaterally withdrawn from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty back in 2002, which was one of the key agreements in international security. "And they still had the audacity, they have withdrawn from the treaty calmly… without referring to anything. They just pulled out from the treaty, and called it a day. In fact, this is exactly what is happening now, but now they reflect on whom they could shuffle the blame onto for this step, which I believe is ill-considered", Putin told reporters.

Russia will not leave unanswered the withdrawal of the United States from the Treaty on Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF). This was announced on 05 December 2018 by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, at a briefing for foreign military attaches. "Given that there are official representatives of foreign military departments in the hall, I would like through you to convey to your leaders that if the INF Treaty is destroyed, it will not remain unanswered from our side," the general said.

The general said that the United States is shifting responsibility onto Russia for breaching the INF Treaty, but the real picture is the opposite. "The accusations against Russia are an attempt to camouflage the true state of affairs. The real picture is as follows. Since 2000, we are calling upon Americans to stop the practice of using target rockets that mimic medium and short-range ballistic missiles when testing the missile defense system, which is prohibited by the agreement," explained Gerasimov. The Chief of the General Staff added that the MK-41 universal launchers deployed in Romania and deployed in Poland "are capable of launching medium-range cruise missiles, which is a direct violation of the obligations under the INF Treaty."

The United States, two years before the Russian Federation was charged with violating the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (SPRM), began preparations for the production of medium-and short-range missiles prohibited by the document, the Russian Defense Ministry said 02 February 2019. "In Washington, two years before the public unproved accusations of Russia of alleged violation of the INF Treaty, not only made a decision, but also began preparations for the production of banned medium-range and shorter-range missiles," the defense ministry said.

The military department reported that according to irrefutable data from the Russian Ministry of Defense, "as early as June 2017, the enterprise of the Raytheon military-industrial corporation in the city of Tucson, Arizona started a program to expand and modernize production facilities in order to create medium-and short-range missiles ". "This plant is the largest diversified enterprise of the US space industry, producing almost all types of rocket weapons, including medium-range and shorter-range cruise missiles," the ministry said.

According to the Ministry of Defense, "over the past two years, the plant's area has increased by 44% - from 55 to 79 thousand square meters, and the number of employees of the enterprise, according to official statements, should increase by almost 2 thousand people."

Almost simultaneously with the beginning of the expansion of production capacity of the plant, the US Congress in November 2017 allocated the Pentagon with the first tranche of $ 58 million, directly pointing to "the development of a medium-range ground-based missile," the military department said. "Thus, the nature and timing of the work carried out irrefutably testifies that the US administration decided to withdraw from the INF mode a few years before unsubstantiated accusations were sent to the public about the violation of the treaty," the Defense Ministry summed up.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced 02 February 2019 that, as a retaliatory measure, Moscow was also suspending the INF nuclear treaty following the US decision to halt the deal. "We will proceed as follows. Our response will be reciprocal. US partners had announced that they were suspending their participation in the [INF] Treaty, and we are suspending it as well. They have announced that they are engaged in research and development, and we will do the same thing," Putin said at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. Putin stressed that the US has breached the agreement: in particular, the MK 41 launchers deployed by the US in Europe, which can be used with Tomahawk missiles, constituted a direct violation of the INF treaty.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the US decision to withdraw from the INF Treaty a "grave mistake". The ministry noted 02 August 2019 that the move was preceded by deliberate efforts on the part of Washington to undermine the accord, creating a pretext for its collapse, and saying those efforts indicate that the US has steered a course to destroy all international agreements that doesn't suit Washington for any reason. "Having launched a propaganda campaign, based on deliberately misleading disinformation about Russia's alleged violations of the INF, the United States has intentionally created a literally insurmountable crisis around the treaty", the ministry's statement read. The ministry also called on the US to discard plans for deploying short- and medium-range missiles and promised that in this case, Russia won't be deploying similar armaments in response.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on 09 August 2019 reiterated Moscow's earlier promise not to deploy its missiles unless the US deploys its own and called on Washington to join the voluntary promise. "We once again call on Washington and its allies to exercise a responsible approach and join this moratorium thus fostering predictability in the political and military spheres", she said.

Russia had questions about US compliance and suspended its treaty obligations in July 2019. Namely, Moscow pointed at the deployment of ground-based Aegis Ashore, something that could potentially be fitted to launch Tomahawk missiles. Apart from this, Russia had issues with Washington's use of intermediate-range target missiles and drones, which fall under the description of banned weapons according to the INF.

Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin at a 27 December 2021 briefing for military attachés and representatives of foreign embassies accredited in Moscow, stressed that after the US withdrawal from the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, NATO actually ignored the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin to impose a moratorium on the deployment of new intermediate and shorter-range missiles in Europe and the possibility of developing mutual verification measures to address existing concerns. "The deployment of such missiles in Europe is unlikely to enhance NATO's security," Fomin concluded.