US Approach to INF Issue Is Inconsistent with Diplomatic Norms: Lavrov
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Washington’s approach to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty issue is inconsistent with diplomatic norms, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Vietnam’s national broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV), China’s CCTV and Phoenix TV.
According to Lavrov, Moscow on numerous occasions suggested discussing compliance issues, including US grievances about Russia’s 9M729 missile, but the Americans rejected dialogue on the matter.
"The US position remains the same: it doesn’t want to see anything, it just wants Russia to dismantle the missile under American control," the Russian top diplomat noted. "It is not very polite even as far as US relations with countries smaller than Russia go," he added, TASS news agency reported.
"We too have concerns about some things that the US does. In particular, we believe that it violates the INF Treaty. In January, we had a hard time persuading the US to at least hold consultations," Lavrov continued.
"However, perhaps it would have been better not to do that because Washington took a totally unconstructive and I would even say destructive position that I just mentioned. It wants neither to hear anything nor explain anything nor show anything nor see anything that we are ready to demonstrate but it suggests that we dismantle the missiles under US control, as well as all launchers and other related equipment, saying that in the future Americans will visit us four times a year to see how things are going," Lavrov said.
He added that Washington’s approach "is inconsistent with the Treaty and diplomatic norms concerning ways to hold negotiations." "In the Cold War era, the Soviet Union and the United States knew how to use those norms, which allowed them to reach agreements," Lavrov noted.
When asked when relations between Russia and the US could be expected to improve, Lavrov said that "those in the US who are trying to take control of the policy towards Russia, are doing their best to prevent President Donald Trump from fulfilling one of his election promises and normalizing relations between Washington and Moscow for they don’t want to see any improvement."
The INF Treaty, signed by the Soviet Union and the United States on December 8, 1987, took effect on June 1, 1988. It applies to deployed and non-deployed ground-based missiles of intermediate range (1,000-5,000 kilometers) and shorter range (500-1,000 kilometers). Washington on many occasions had accused Russia of violating the accord, but Moscow vehemently dismissed all accusations and, in its turn, expressed grievances over Washington’s non-compliance.
On February 1, US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced the suspension of Washington’s obligations under the INF starting February 2. Washington is determined to withdraw from the treaty in six months unless Russia returns to "real and verifiable" compliance.
On February 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was also suspending the agreement. He handed down instructions to refrain from initiating talks with Washington on the issue and stressed that the US needed to show willingness for an equal and substantive dialogue.