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Russia Proposes, Then Retracts, Treaty Withdrawal
Russia recently suggested to the United States that it might withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, but later backed away from the idea, the Financial Times reported today (see GSN, July 20, 2003). Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov in January asked U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld how the Bush administration would react if Moscow withdrew from the pact, according to the Times. A U.S. official and a Russian source said that Rumsfeld did not object to the idea. Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita, however, denied that the department raised no objection. “The U.S. is a signatory and it is a treaty that is serving a useful purpose,” Di Rita said. “The issue arose in the context of general discussion and the secretary said that it was an issue for the interagency (process), it was not a (Pentagon) issue.” A Russian Foreign Ministry delegation later traveled to Washington to withdraw the proposal, a Russian source said. The Defense and State departments refused to confirm whether the proposal had been withdrawn, the Times reported. Under the 1987 treaty, the United States and Soviet Union were required to permanently dispose of nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. The treaty also bars future development of such missiles (Wetzel/Sevastopulo/Dinmore, Financial Times, March 8).
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