The US might deploy nuclear cruise missiles in Europe as a potential response to what Washington calls a violation of the INF Treaty, according to a leak published by the Associated Press.
The US State Department went public last July saying Russia had tested a missile in violation of the treaty.
“It all has a certain Cold War ring, even if the White House ultimately decides to continue tolerating Russia's alleged flight-testing of a ground-launched cruise missile with a range prohibited by the treaty,” says the Newser website.
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, commonly referred to as the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty, requires destruction of the Parties' ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, their launchers and associated support structures and support equipment within three years after the Treaty enters into force.
The INF Treaty was signed by President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev at a Washington Summit on December 8, 1987. On January 15, 1988, President Reagan signed National Security Directive 296 which instructed Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci to establish a new agency -- the On-Site Inspection Agency -- to implement the Treaty's unprecedented on-site inspection and escort responsibilities. Thirty days after the INF Treaty entered into force on June 1, 1988, OSIA began inspections of 130 Soviet INF sites in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union and the escort of Soviet inspection teams at 31 INF sites in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the United States. Continuous monitoring operations began in the Soviet Union and the U.S. in July 1988. By May 1991, all intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles, launchers, related support equipment and support structures were eliminated. Both sides have conducted hundreds of INF inspections since 1988.
Author: Mikhail Vesely