Putin Demands INF Treaty Expansion

President Vladimir Putin today reaffirmed Russian concerns over a bilateral arms control agreement banning medium-range missiles, saying his country’s continued compliance would depend on other nations joining the pact, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 16).

The United States and the Soviet Union signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987, agreeing to destroy all missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.  Russia took on the treaty obligations following the 1991 demise of the Soviet Union.

In recent months, however, Russian officials have expressed concern about missile developments in neighboring nations and about U.S. plans to deploy missile interceptors in Eastern Europe (see related GSN story, today).

Russia for at least two years has raised the possibility of withdrawing from the treaty (see GSN, March 9, 2005).

“We need to convince other (countries) to assume the same level of obligations as assumed by the Russian Federation and the United States,” Putin told reporters today at a meeting in Moscow with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“If we are unable to obtain such a goal … it will be difficult for us to keep within the framework of the treaty in a situation where other countries do develop such weapon systems, and among them are countries located in our near vicinity,” Putin added.

Both Gates and Rice appeared to be surprised by the tone of Putin’s remarks, AP reported (Burns/Lee, Associated Press/Google News, Oct. 12).

Putin’s remarks might be intended to introduce a new diplomatic approach toward resolving missile proliferation concerns, said one analyst.

“To my knowledge, this is the first time that Russia has talked of expanding on the treaty instead of scrapping it outright,” said Wade Boese, research director at the Arms Control Association.

“It is a welcome approach that should be explored:  Can we actually pursue the idea of banning ballistic missiles?” Boese added.

Putin’s comments also reflect Russian complaints that the Bush administration has often acted without adequately consulting Moscow, Boese said.  In a similar move, Russia has suspended its participation in the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, a multilateral pact restricting deployments of heavy conventional weapons (see GSN, July 16).

“This is the only way to get the U.S. attention,” Boese said.  They’ve been ignored” (Greg Webb, Global Security Newswire, Oct. 12).

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