End Of INF Treaty – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

BASICS ABOUT INF

• The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF treaty, bans Russia and the United States from possessing, producing or conducting test flights of ground-launched cruise missiles and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,420 miles). It allows sea-based and air-delivered missiles at those ranges as well as research and development of groundlaunched systems.

DETAILS

• U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty on 8 December 1987.
• By May 1991, the nations had eliminated 2,692 missiles, followed by 10 years of onsite verification inspections.

DID INF PREVENT A NUCLEAR WAR?

• No, INF didn’t prevent a nuclear war as the option of using air to ground missiles and nuclear submarine missiles were always available

TRUMP’S OBJECTION

THE OBJECTION

•  In October 2018, President Donald Trump announced the United States’ intention to exit the INF treaty due to Russian noncompliance.
• He also suggested the United States should renegotiate the treaty to include China, considered by US strategists the primary longterm challenger to American power.

RUSSIA BLAMED USA

CHINA FACTOR

DONGFENG 41 (CSS-X-10)

•  The DF-41 (CSS-X-10), capable of being armed with a single, three, six or even ten MIRV warheads, is China’s newest addition to its nuclear arsenal.
• With an estimated range between 12,000 – 15,000 km , it is believed to surpass the range that of the US’s LGM30 Minuteman ICBM to become the world’s longest range missile, if not competitive at the very least.

 WHAT ABOUT CHINA?

• In principle Russia is open to including China in a new treaty that would allow Moscow to also address its concerns about US missile systems in Europe.
• However, including China is complicated not only by the nature of arms control talks, but also because Beijing would likely also want to include nuclear-armed India. India, in turn, would want limitations on its rival, nuclear-armed Pakistan.

CHINA’S REBUTTAL

• China’s Zhang said that “the United States is saying China should be a party in this disarmament agreement, but I think everybody knows that China is not at the same level with the United States and the Russian Federation.”
• China’s Xinhua news agency on July 30 quoted a Foreign Ministry official as saying, “China will in no way agree to making the INF Treaty multilateral,” while hitting out at Washington for its withdrawal from the treaty.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT NOW?

• Russia and U.S.A will swiftly develop their nuclear capable missiles
• They will develop and then sell their ballistic missiles
• A new weapons industry will be built

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