Russia warns about growing risks of arms race

MOSCOW

Risks of a new arms race have significantly risen after the U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Monday.

On Aug. 2, the U.S. formally withdrew from the nuclear pact, following a months-long war of words between Moscow and Washington.

The treaty was signed on Dec. 8, 1987 after about 10 years of negotiations by then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, bringing to an end the threat of a nuclear war in Europe.

Under the treaty, both sides destroyed the whole class of intermediate- and short-range missiles in a span of four years.

In October 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump announced an exit from the pact, accusing Moscow of creating a missile, violating its terms.

Russia suggested the U.S. a transparency regarding the 9М729 missile, provoking Washington's concerns, but Washington refused "even the proposal" to discuss how the anxiety can be eliminated, Ryabkov said at a news conference in Moscow.

It was unacceptable for Russia's security to agree for the missile's infrastructure destruction as the U.S. demanded, he added.

"Risks of the beginning of a new competitive phase of the arms race have increased significantly. The arms race is a well-established term that has come to us from the past. It is a process in which measures and countermeasures are essentially carried out in a predetermined, if not automatic, mode," he said.

The only way to resolve mutual Russian-U.S. concerns now is to declare "parallel moratorium on the missiles deployment in the regions free of them," said Ryabkov, calling Washington not to count on the win in the arms race as Russia "learnt the lessons of the past".

"We must focus on preserving what remains of the international arms control architecture. First of all, this concerns the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START Treaty), limiting strategic nuclear weapons," he said.

It would be a heavy strike at the international security if the two countries would not be able to renew the agreement, expiring in 2021, even for a shorter than 5 years term, he warned.

The treaty banning nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water, commonly known as the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) has no perspectives after the U.S. refused to ratify it, Ryabkov added.

"Meanwhile, test facility in Nevada is being improved and prepared for accelerated transfer to the mode of testing," he said.

He also compared the U.S. withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iran nuclear deal with that of the INF Treaty, saying, in both cases Washington found a "pretext" to pull out and condemned the U.S. decision to sanction Iran, calling the measure "unprecedented".