Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
8/28/15
The State Department this week refuted Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) claim that Russia’s R-500 cruise missile is the primary culprit of the nation’s alleged violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987. “The R-500 is not the missile that we have determined is in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty,” State Department spokeswoman Alex Bell told NS&D Monitor on Wednesday by email. “In addition, the RS-26 ballistic missile is not the missile of INF concern, as some have speculated. At issue is a ground-launched cruise missile with a range capability of 500-5,500 kilometers. We are confident that the Russian government is aware of the missile to which we are referring.”
The R-500 is a variant of Russia’s Iskander-K cruise missile, and uses the same transporter erector launcher carrier vehicle and control system, but is turbojet-powered. Lawmakers and academics alike have said or theorized that the R-500 is the missile in violation of the INF Treaty. The agreement bans the U.S. and Russia from developing, possessing, and flight-testing ground-launched missiles that can strike targets within the 500-5,500 kilometer range. Public estimates of the R-500’s range vary widely, with some suggesting 2,000 kilometers and most asserting 500 kilometers and up, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
Cruz on Monday announced that he had sent a letter to the White House on the matter, with the main purpose being to urge President Barack Obama to release the Defense Department’s risk assessment of the alleged violation to Congress and the American public. The Pentagon said it has informed the appropriate congressional committees about the matter. “The staff of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, the latter of which Senator Cruz is a member of, have been briefed on the Chairman [of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s] classified military assessment of the implications of Russia’s violation of the INF treaty,” DoD spokesman Army Lt. Col. Joe Sowers wrote in an email Tuesday to NS&D Monitor. Obama was on vacation when Cruz’s letter was sent.
The White House had little to add beyond the government’s official stated stance on INF, with a senior administration official stating in an email to NS&D Monitor:“ The United States continues to consider diplomatic, economic, and military responses to Russia’s violation of the INF Treaty.”
Cruz accused the White House of “blocking” the release of the risk assessment, preventing Congress from investigating Russia’s alleged noncompliance. "The Senate’s advice and consent power is a pivotal element of a constitutional and prudent foreign policy, but it cannot be exercised if your administration does not act in good faith. … This risk assessment report is necessary to determine a strategic response to Russia’s treaty violations, and I request that you lift your embargo on this report immediately,” Cruz said in a statement.
Sowers said the Pentagon will keep the report classified, because it contains operational and strategic assessments that could compromise U.S. national security if released. He added that the Obama administration is continuing diplomatic efforts to persuade Russia to return to compliance, and is also pursuing economic and military countermeasures, including consideration of countervailing strike capabilities.
“The United States will not take any action inconsistent with our obligations under the INF Treaty as long as those obligations remain in force,” Sowers said. “However, Russia must understand that the INF Treaty is a two way street. As we have said repeatedly, we will not allow the Russian Federation to gain a significant military advantage through its violation of an arms control treaty.”
The letter also criticizes the White House for waiting to tell the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the cited violation until after it voted on the New START treaty. “Although the State Department formally declared Russia to be in violation of the INF Treaty in 2014, additional reports indicate that the United States has harbored doubts of Russian compliance since 2008 stemming primarily from the R-500 ground-launched cruise missile,” stated Cruz, who is running for president. “But these concerns were not shared with the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in September 2010 before the committee voted on the New START Treaty. Only in late 2011, long after Congress voted in favor of the New START Treaty, did your Administration conclude that the R-500 was an official compliance concern.”
