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United States Alleges Russia Continues to Violate INF Treaty
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 November 2017
Extract
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, obligates the parties “not to possess, produce, or flight-test a ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) with a range capability of 500 km to 5,500 km, or to possess or produce launchers of such missiles.” In 2014, the State Department reported that Russia was in violation of its obligation not to possess intermediate- or short-range missiles. Russia denied the violation and expressed its own doubts about the United States' compliance with the INF Treaty; the meetings and discussions that followed did not resolve either state's concerns. Subsequent State Department reports in 2015 and 2016 continued to express concern about Russia's violation.
- Type
- Use of Force, Arms Control, and Nonproliferation
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2017 by The American Society of International Law
References
1 Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, U.S.-U.S.S.R., Dec. 8, 1987, 1657 UNTS 485, available at https://www.state.gov/t/avc/trty/102360.htm#text [hereinafter INF Treaty]; see also Marian Nash Leich, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 82 AJIL 341(1988).
2 U.S. Dep't Of State, Adherence To And Compliance With Arms Control, Nonproliferation, And Disarmament Agreements And Commitments 1 (July 2014), available at http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/230108.pdf; Daugirdas, Kristina & Mortenson, Julian Davis, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 108 AJIL 837 (2014)Google Scholar.
3 Daugirdas & Mortenson, supra note 2, at 840–42.
4 2015 Report on Adherence to and Compliance With Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments, at https://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/rpt/2015/243224.htm#INF2; 2016 Report on Adherence to and Compliance With Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments, at https://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/rpt/2016/255651.htm#INF%20TREATY (both reports noting that “[t]he United States has determined that [the previous year], the Russian Federation (Russia) continued to be in violation of its obligations under the INF Treaty not to possess, produce, or flight-test a ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) with a range capability of 500 km to 5,500 km, or to possess or produce launchers of such missiles”).
5 Letter from William M. Thornberry, Chairman, Committee on Armed Services and Devin Nunes, Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, to President Barack Obama, October 17, 2016, available at https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/20161017_wmt_nunes_to_potus_re_inf.pdf.
6 Michael R. Gordon, Russia is Moving Ahead with Missile Program that Violates Treaty, U.S. Officials Say, N.Y. Times (Oct. 19, 2016), at https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/world/europe/russia-missiles-inf-treaty.html.
7 Id.
8 INF Treaty, supra note 1, Art. XIII (establishing the Special Verification Commission as a forum to “resolve questions relating to compliance with the obligations assumed” and to “agree upon such measures as may be necessary to improve the viability and effectiveness of this Treaty”).
9 Thirteenth Session of the Special Verification Commission Under the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty), Nov. 16, 2016, available at https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2016/11/264375.htm.
10 Michael R. Gordon, Russia Deploys Missile, Violating Treaty and Challenging Trump, N.Y. Times (Feb. 14, 2017), at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/world/europe/russia-cruise-missile-arms-control-treaty.html.
11 Id.
12 Steve Holland, Trump Wants to Make Sure U.S. Nuclear Arsenal at ‘Top of the Pack,’ Reuters (Feb. 23, 2017), at http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-exclusive-idUSKBN1622IF.
13 Nuclear Deterrence Assessment, House Armed Services Committee Hearing (Mar. 8, 2017), available at http://congressional.proquest.com/congressional/docview/t39.d40.03087703.d98?accountid=14667.
14 Id. at 57; see also Michael R. Gordon, Russia Has Deployed Missile Barred by Treaty, US. General Tells Congress, N.Y. Times (Mar. 8, 2017), at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/us/politics/russia-inf-missile-treaty.html.
15 Nuclear Deterrence Assessment, supra note 13, at 57.
16 Kremlin: Russia Not Officially Accused of Violating INF Treaty, Sputnik (Feb. 15, 2017), at https://sputniknews.com/world/201702151050698427-kremlin-peskov-russia-inf.
17 Neil MacFarquhar, With Big Red Stamp, Russia Singles Out What It Calls ‘Fake’ News, N.Y. Times (Feb. 22, 2017), at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/world/europe/russia-fake-news-media-foreign-ministry-.html.
18 Id.
19 Frederik Pleitgen, Alla Eshchenko & Laura Smith-Spark, Russia Denies Deploying Cruise Missiles in Treaty Breach, CNN (Mar. 9, 2017), at http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/09/europe/russia-us-cruise-missile-treaty.
20 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russ. Fed'n Press Release, Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharov (Mar. 10, 2017), at http://www.mid.ru/en/web/guest/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/2673614.
21 2017 Report on Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments (Apr. 14, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/rpt/2017/270330.htm.
22 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russ. Fed'n Press Release, Comment by the MFA of Russia on the U.S. Department of State's Annual Report on Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments (Apr. 29, 2017), at http://www.mid.ru/en/web/guest/kommentarii_predstavitelya/-/asset_publisher/MCZ7HQuMdqBY/content/id/2740264.