The Pentagon announced that the USA intends to develop conventional ground-based missiles previously banned under the INF arms control treaty, on the very day it expired following Washington’s unilateral exit.
The USA blamed Russia’s alleged breach of the INF treaty as the pretext to withdraw from it in February, starting the six-month clock until the treaty officially ended on August 2, 2019.
However, the United States decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) hurts US national security and weakens American credibility.
According to the Pentagon, Russia was “producing and fielding an offensive capability that was prohibited” under the INF, thus endangering the US regime and its allies.
This accusation refers to the SSC-8, known in Russia as the 9M729, which Moscow says is perfectly compliant with the treaty and represents an upgrade of an older, also compliant, missile system.
Last month, the US mission to NATO tried to blame the demise of the INF on Russia, asserting once again that it was up to Moscow to save the treaty by destroying all the SSC-8 units.
US accusations about the 9M729 are based on media reports and fake intelligence community assessments of different cruise missiles – the air-launched Kh-101 and sea-launched Kalibr, neither of which were banned under the INF.
Months prior to Washington’s announcement it was exiting the INF, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton visited Moscow and called the treaty a relic of the Cold War, ill-suited for the “new strategic reality” that included China, Iran and North Korea.
So, in fact this shows that the US regime has failed to keep up with foreign technology, and now wants to cover this gap by breaking the treaty in order to produce missiles that would be able destroy the Russian modern defense systems.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov pointed out that Russia has demonstrated its ability to find “cost-effective answers” to any military challenges it faces.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2019.
