SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Putin urges new arms talks with US to avoid 'chaos'
Moscow, Aug 5 (AFP) Aug 05, 2019
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday urged the United States to begin new arms talks after the collapse of a Cold War nuclear pact between the two world powers.

Moscow and Washington tore up the Intermediate Range Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty on Friday, triggering fears of a new arms race.

"In order to avoid chaos that has no rules, limits and laws, one needs to once again weigh all possible dangerous consequences and start serious dialogue without any ambiguities," Putin said in a statement.

"We are ready for it."

Moscow has blamed Washington for unilaterally ending the 1987 treaty which was signed by US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

The agreement limited the use of conventional and nuclear missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (310 to 3,420 miles).

Washington and NATO accused Russia of developing the new 9M729 missile which they say violates the treaty, but Russia says its range falls short of 500 kilometres


- 'Risk of uncontrolled arms race' -

Putin said Monday that if Russia receives information about US development of new missiles, it "will be forced to begin the full-scale development of similar missiles".

Russia "will not deploy them in relevant regions until American-made missiles are deployed there," Putin said.

Unless there are new talks about strategic security, "this scenario means restarting an uncontrolled arms race," he added.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at the weekend that he would like to deploy the new intermediate-range missiles in Asia, but denied that this would spark an arms race as the weapons are not nuclear.

"Right now, we don't have plans to build nuclear-tipped INF range weapons," he said. "So I don't see an arms race happening."

The INF treaty was considered a cornerstone of global arms control architecture, but Washington has long called it obsolete due to non-signatories like China being free to develop their own weapons.

Putin on Monday accused the US of "seriously complicating the situation in the world and creating fundamental risks for all" by pulling out of the treaty.

Washington launched a six-month withdrawal procedure for leaving the treaty in February, and Moscow followed soon after.

Any new treaty to counter the build-up of nuclear missiles would have to include China, US President Donald Trump said last week.

The other key arms deal between Russia and the US is the New START treaty which keeps the nuclear arsenals of both countries well below their Cold War peak.

The deal expires in 2021 and it is likely not to be renewed amid the current chill in US-Russian relations, experts say.

The US and Russia own more than 90 percent of global nuclear stockpiles, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Maven stays silent after routine pass behind Mars
ICE-CSIC leads a pioneering study on the feasibility of asteroid mining
NASA JPL Unveils Rover Operations Center for Moon, Mars Missions

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Thorium plated steel points to smaller nuclear clocks
Solar ghost particles seen flipping carbon atoms in underground detector
Overview Energy debuts airborne power beaming milestone for space based solar power

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Autonomous DARPA project to expand satellite surveillance network by BAE Systems
IAEA calls for repair work on Chernobyl sarcophagus
Momentus joins US Space Force SHIELD contract vehicle

24/7 News Coverage
UAlbany Atmospheric Scientist Proposes Innovative Method to Reduce Aviation's Climate Impact
Digital twin successfully launched and deployed into space
Robots that spare warehouse workers the heavy lifting



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.