US expects Russia to observe its INF Treaty commitments "Department of State"

The United States honors its commitments under the the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and expects Russia to do the same, US Department of State Spokesperson Heather Nauert said on Tuesday, commenting on earlier remarks on the issue by the US envoy to NATO.

"We have said for quite some time that Russia has not been in compliance with the INF Treaty. We’ve been saying this for four years now. Russia has not taken any steps to return to compliance. Instead, they’ve just levied specious accusations about U.S. compliance," she said. "And yes, we do believe that we are in compliance with the INF Treaty."

"I think what Ambassador Hutchison was talking about was improving our overall defense and deterrence posture. The current situation, where Russia is just blatantly violating our central tenet of the INF Treaty, is untenable. Our goal is Russian compliance," Nauert went on. "The United States is committed to upholding its arms control obligations and expects Russia to do the very same thing."

US Permanent Representative to NATO, Amb. Kay Bailey Hutchison, said her country was ready to "take out" Russian missiles, perceived to be in violation of the INF Treaty. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russia perceived those statements as dangerous and assured that Russian military experts will find a response to those threats.

The US diplomat later explained that she did not mean a preemptive strike.

The INF Treaty was signed in Washington on December 8, 1987, and took effect on June 1, 1988. The INF Treaty eliminated operational and non-operational medium range (1,000-5,500 kilometers) and shorter range (500-1,000 kilometers) ground-launched missiles. By June 1991, the Soviet Union had eliminated 1,846 missiles, while the United States rolled back its arsenal to 846. That said, inspections ended in May 2001.

In 2014, the United States accused Russia of developing a missile with an operational range of 500 to 5,500 km. In 2017, US media outlets reported that the missile was codenamed 9M729 (NATO reporting name: SSC-8). Since then, the US has repeated this claim more than once. Russia strongly dismissed it and struck back at the US with counterclaims that America had violated the deal.