When commenting on the ultimatum to Moscow voiced by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Washington hasn’t provided any evidence that Russia allegedly violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
US Undersecretary for Arms Control Andrea Thompson has stated that the 60 days given to Russia on the INF Treaty was “not an ultimatum.” However, Russia must either end its development of its 9M729 missile system or modify the weapon so it is in compliance with the INF Treaty, Thompson stressed.
“The SS-CX-8 (9M729 cruise missile) has a range that is not in compliance,” Thompson said. “Either you rid the system, rid the launcher or change the system where it doesn’t exceed the range.”
The two parties have repeatedly accused each other of violating the INF Treaty. Moscow, in particular, has stated that the United States was deploying launchers for Tomahawk missiles in Romania and Poland, something which was prohibited by the agreement. Russia has also pointed to the fact that Washington was developing combat drones and financing research on the development of a ground-launched cruise missile. Meanwhile, the Russian authorities have stressed on numerous occasions that it strictly complied with the obligations outlined in the treaty.The INF treaty was signed between the Soviet Union and the United States in December 1987 and required the parties to destroy their ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (from 311 to 3,317 miles).