Trump Says the U.S. Will Leave the INF Treaty, NATO Blames Russia

FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Trump Says the U.S. Will Leave the INF Treaty, NATO Blames Russia

Oct. 21, 2018 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump told the press the U.S. would leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), signed by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. in 1987, just as National Security Advisor John Bolton arrives in Moscow for meetings. The neo-cons have long accused Russia of breaking the treaty, denied by Moscow, while NATO is deploying mid-range Aegis systems in Europe, claiming they are only defensive.

TASS quotes that NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu as saying today that it is “highly likely” that Russia violates the treaty—a phrase repeatedly used in building up lies about nefarious deeds blamed on Russia. Lungescu said that NATO had pointed to Russia’s 9M729 missile system.

“After years of denials and obfuscation, Russia recently acknowledged the existence of the missile system without providing the necessary transparency and explanation. In the absence of any credible answer from Russia on this new missile, allies believe that the most plausible assessment would be that Russia is in violation of the INF Treaty,”

she said.

Trump said on Oct. 20 after his Elko, Nevada rally: “We’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out.” According to TASS, however,

“At the same time, he did not rule out signing a new agreement on intermediate-range nuclear forces with Moscow and Beijing, if Russia and China provide guarantees of halting the production of such weapons.”

Senator Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee, wrote on his Facebook page, according to TASS:

“So far, no official steps towards this [the U.S. pullout of the INF] have been made, and this gives grounds to consider Trump’s statement as the continuing blackmail rather than an accomplished act of law.... Consultations should be held between four nuclear powers [without the U.S.] and there should be an urgent discussion at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva and a discussion by the United Nations Security Council. The situation is critical, and the threats to peace are getting a particular shape. Now the Western allies of the U.S. need to make a choice: Either to opt for the same path, which possibly leads to a new war, or take the side of a common sense, judging by the instinct for self-preservation. That’s because hardly anybody will survive a nuclear conflict, which is approaching after the U.S. unilateral decision on the INF Treaty.”