Germany doesn’t want more US Nuclear Missiles in Europe

Some German politicians, including members of the European Parliament, raise the issue of making a decision at the EU level, to deploy US missiles on its territory.

The European Union is not ready to give assurances that the USA won’t deploy its missiles on the bloc’s territory in the event of Washington’s withdrawal from the INF treaty. While the UK “is 100% supportive of any US moves.”

However, the European Union “has nothing to do with it, not being a military bloc.”

German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr told a briefing that Berlin “advocated the preservation” of the INF treaty and “the functioning architecture of arms reduction in Europe.”

The statements follow the announcement made earlier by Donald Trump that Washington would scrap the 1987 INF treaty over Russia’s alleged violations of the agreement.

Moscow, in turn, has denied the allegations, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressing that Russia “closely adheres to its obligations” under the treaty.

The INF Treaty, which was inked by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan on December 8, 1987, prohibits the development, deployment and testing of medium-range and shorter-range ballistic missiles and ground-launched cruise missiles.

Moscow has warned that a US withdrawal from the landmark agreement on ground-based intermediate-range nuclear weapons would prompt Russia to do what’s necessary to preserve strategic stability.

NATO has been significantly expanding its military presence in Eastern Europe after the outburst of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014 using alleged Russian interference in the Ukrainian internal activities as a pretext.

Only this year, the aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces flew to intercept possible violators of the national border more than 120 times.

Stoltenberg noted that the Western allies would be holding further consultations on the INF Treaty this week.

Sputnik / ABC Flash Point Military News 2018.