Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
1/31/2014
Russia has begun testing a new cruise missile that violates the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, according to a news report this week. The New York Times reported Jan. 30 that acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller had met with NATO allies earlier this month to provide info on alleged Russian tests of the land-based cruise missile, creating uncertainty about the future of U.S.-Russian arms control efforts. The INF Treaty that was signed by the Soviet Union and the United States required each country to get rid of missiles with ranges of 300 and 4,000 miles. The accord also prevents each country from testing or building such weapons, but the New York Times report suggests that the U.S. believes Russia has tested the weapon perhaps since 2008.
According to the report, Gottemoeller has broached the subject of the tests with Russia since last May, but the U.S. hasn’t publicly addressed the issue. “The United States never hesitates to raise treaty compliance concerns with Russia, and this issue is no exception,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, according to the report. “There’s an ongoing review process, and we wouldn’t want to speculate or prejudge the outcome.” Rumors have abounded for the last year of Russian cheating on an arms control treaty, but those rumors focused on the two-stage RS-26 missile. While the missile has been tested at intermediate ranges, it is capable of longer distances and is subject to the New START Treaty rather than the INF Treaty.
GOP Lawmakers Call for Hard Line on Russia
House and Senate Republicans quickly jumped on the report, suggesting that the revelations should cast doubt on future efforts to negotiate arms control cuts with Russia, a goal of the Obama Administration. “Today’s report is an urgent reminder that President Putin is not to be trusted,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in a statement. “President Obama sought to ‘reset’ relations with Russia, yet in the last five years, we’ve only seen Putin weaken democracy in Russia and undermine the independence of Russia’s neighbors. Today’s report is more evidence that it is ludicrous to think that we should negotiate further reductions to the U.S. strategic arsenal given Russia’s noncompliance with its existing commitments.”
Rubio and Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) were among the authors of a bill introduced last year that would require the Administration to share with Congress what the U.S. has told NATO about the purported treaty violations. “I am disappointed the Administration knew this information and chose to keep it from the Congress,” Risch said. “The security of America is the government’s first priority and it is time the Administration was honest with the American people. When Secretary Kerry was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he expressed grave concerns regarding Russian cheating and urged in the strongest terms that there needs to be real consequences for cheating. I hope he will maintain that position now that violations have been made public.”
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said knowledge of the treaty violations should have made the Administration more committed to modernizing the nation’s nuclear arsenal, weapons complex and fleet of nuclear delivery vehicles, which he said the Administration has “continued to delay or ignore” in a letter to President Obama Jan. 30. “I am greatly concerned that your Administration is ignoring serious nuclear modernization and nonproliferation issues, particularly with respect to Russia, China, Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran,” he said. “I am concerned that you are ignoring these issues so as not to discredit your policies of ‘disarmament by example.’ I strongly urge you to immediately begin to work with Congress to protect and modernize the United States nuclear deterrent.”
