NATO Calls on Russia to Destroy Missile Banned by the INF Treaty

NATO called on Moscow to destroy the 9M729/SSC-8 nuclear-capable cruise missile system because they were created in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed in 1987 between the USA and the USSR. If the Kremlin refuses, the Alliance will be forced to retaliate, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Tuesday. On June 26, NATO defense ministers will discuss next steps at the meeting if Moscow keeps the missile system, which, according to the United States and its allies, allows nuclear attacks on targets in Europe from the European part of Russia. During a media conference in Brussels on June 25, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia, but at the same time he noted that he has seen no indication that Russia intends to do so. As the possible NATO countermeasures defense ministers will consider more flights over Europe by U.S. warplanes capable of carrying nuclear warheads, more military training and the repositioning U.S. sea-based missiles. Without a deal, the United States has said it will withdraw from the INF treaty on August 2. Russia warned on Monday of a stand-off comparable to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis if the United States were to deploy land-based missile systems near Russia’s borders, but Stoltenberg said there were no such plans. U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison told reporters that at present, Washington was only considering conventional, not nuclear weapons, in any possible response. Radio Liberty