Russia Denies Violating Nuclear Deal, Prepares for US Missile Deployments

Russian planners say they're ready to counter US nukes in Europe

Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Monday denying that they had in any way violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, adding that they remain open to diplomacy to try to resolve disputes with the US on the matter. They conceded this was unlikely to happen, as they doubt the US is interested in talking, having already disavowed the treaty.

But while keeping open the diplomatic track, Russian officials say that military planners are expecting the US to use their withdrawal from the treaty as an opportunity to position nuclear weapons back into Europe. They are also planning a Russian response to try to counter this.

The two sides have been gearing up for tit-for-tat escalations for awhile, and these likely are based around the same plans made with respect to US missile defense deployments into Europe, and Russia’s objection to those.

The US has been accusing Russia of violating the INF for years based on missile tests they conducted. Russia has insisted that the tests were in line with the treaty’s limits, but the US kept repeating the allegations before finally abandoning the treaty.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.