NATO Makes Insane Ultimatum to Russia: You Have Five Weeks To Destroy Missiles!

June 26, 2019 (EIRNS)—NATO said yesterday that Russia must destroy its short-range nuclear-ready cruise missile system, or the Alliance will be forced to respond. Speaking at a press conference in at NATO headquarters in Brussels on June 25, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia had just five weeks to scrap the system and “save the treaty”! “We call on Russia to take the responsible path. Unfortunately, we have seen no indication that Russia intends to do so,” he said.

The U.S. has previously said it will quit a decades-old missile treaty with Russia if the latter fails to destroy the missile, labeled the SSC-8 by NATO.

The 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty between the U.S. and Russia sought to eliminate nuclear and conventional missiles, as well as their launchers, with short ranges (310-620 miles) and intermediate ranges (620-3,420 miles). NATO has asserted that the SSC-8 violates those terms and that Russia has been deploying the system at locations which could threaten countries across Europe.

Stoltenberg will chair a meeting of NATO member defense ministers set for today. He said that gathering, which will include U.S. Acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper, would look at NATO’s next steps “in the event that Russia does not comply.”

The NATO chief said the response would be “defensive, measured and coordinated,” though it would not result in the deployment of land-based nuclear missiles. “But as Russia is deploying new missiles, we must ensure that our deterrence and defense remains credible and effective. This is NATO’s job.”

Already before these ultimative five weeks run out, and long before Stoltenberg’s ridiculous show, NATO—that is the United States Navy—has deployed missile-carrying destroyers in the Baltic Sea and in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea/Black Sea, not to mention the submarines in the Arctic region, all of them threatening Russia with cruise missiles which can carry nuclear warheads.