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NATO does not want new nuclear arms race: alliance chief
BRUSSELS, Oct 24, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said
Wednesday he did not see the alliance’s member states deploying more nuclear
weapons in Europe in response to a new Russian missile programme.
“We don’t want a new Cold War,” the alliance’s secretary general told
reporters. “We don’t want a new arms race.
“And I don’t foresee that (NATO) allies will deploy more nuclear weapons in
Europe as a response to the new Russian missile,” he added.
“But I see a need — and that is what is going on in NATO — a need to
assess the implications of the new Russian missile for our security.”
Stoltenberg was speaking after US President Donald Trump said Monday he
was ready to build up the US nuclear arsenal in response to Russia’s SSC-8
missile programme (known in Russia as the 9M729).
Already Saturday, Trump had announced the US was pulling out of the
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), arguing that Moscow’s
deployment of Novator 9M729 missiles violated the 1987 accord.
On Monday, the European Commission urged Washington and Moscow to keep
talking to preserve the treaty — and Stoltenberg acknowledged that Trump’s
decision did not have unanimous support among his NATO allies.
But he added: “Russia has now admitted that they are developing and
fielding a new missile, the SSC-8. So the problem, the threat, the challenge,
is Russian behaviour…
“We cannot have a Treaty between two parties that is only respected by one
of them. Russia needed to comply in a transparent, viable way,” he said.
NATO ambassadors would meet to discuss the implications of the Russian
missile programme, said Stoltenberg. They were also trying to organise a
meeting between the NATO Council and Russia, he added.
Growing tensions over the nuclear treaty overshadowed a news conference
originally scheduled to give details of NATO’s Trident Juncture military
exercise in Norway, its largest since the end of the Cold War.
Russia had been invited to observe the exercise “as long as they behave
professionally and avoid dangerous situations and behaviour”, said
Stoltenberg.
Moscow has repeatedly denied that it has violated the INF Treaty, arguing
that in fact it is the United States that has not respected its terms.
Signed in 1987 by US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev, it bans missiles that can travel distances of between 310 and
3,400 miles (500 and 5,500 kilometres).
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1825 hrs