Russia and China have called for a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday related to statements by US officials on their plans
to develop and deploy medium-range nuclear-capable missiles across the
world. The US withdrew from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty
that forbade this earlier in August.
Russian and Chinese officials are seeking a briefing from the UN
disarmament affairs chief, and both say they believe the US rush for
such weapons is a threat to international peace and security.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed particular concern that the
US was in position to deploy such missiles in Romania and Poland. He added Russia would consider those a threat to Moscow, and would respond if they needed to.
US officials hadn’t confirmed any plans to deploy in Europe, though
Putin said such deployments could happen without even telling Romania
and Poland about it. US officials have, however, expressed interest in
having such missiles in Asia.
So far it’s not clear what nations in Asia would be willing hosts for
such missiles, but intermediate missiles in Asia could potentially
target either Russia or China. North Korea has also expressed concerns
about the US missiles being deployed, particularly on the Korean
Peninsula, where it would potentially be a step backwards in efforts to
denuclearize the peninsula.
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