NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke about Russia’s alleged violation of the INF treaty at a press conference in Brussels on Friday, claiming that any NATO response would be “measured” and “defensive,” adding “we don’t want a new cold war, we don’t want a new arms race.”
“The responsibility to preserve the treaty lies on Russia because Russia is now violating the treaty by developing and deploying new missiles which are in violation of the treaty,” Stoltenberg commented.
“The treaty is now in jeopardy and unfortunately we have not seen any signs of breakthrough,” he added following NATO-Russia Council (NRC) talks in the Belgian capital.
He also discussed what made Russia’s new SSC-8 (9M729) missiles such a concern, emphasising that “these new missiles are hard to detect, they are mobile, they are nuclear capable, they can reach European cities, and they reduce the warning time and thereby also the threshold for any potential use for nuclear weapons in a in an conflict.”