Save US-Russia nuclear treaty, EU urges

AFP
EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Wednesday urged Russia and the US to save a Cold War arms control treaty after Washington issued a 60-day ultimatum to Moscow.
The United States said it would pull out of the 1987 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty unless Moscow withdraws a new cruise missile system that has threatened to trigger a new arms race.
Mogherini pleaded for the treaty to be saved, warning that Europe did not want to become a battlefield for global powers once again, as it had been during the Cold War.
“The INF has guaranteed peace and security in European territory for 30 years now,” Mogherini said as she arrived for talks with NATO foreign ministers.
“It has to be fully implemented, so I hope that the time that is there to work on preserving the treaty and achieving its full implementation can be used wisely from all sides, and we will definitely try to make our part to make sure this happens.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday warned Russia that if it did not dismantle its 9M279 mobile ground-launched missile system, Washington would no longer be bound by the treaty. NATO and the US say the 9M279 — also known by the designation SSC-8 — violates the INF treaty, which banned ground-launched missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometres.
The nuclear-capable Russian missiles are mobile and hard to detect and can hit cities in Europe with little or no warning, according to NATO, dramatically changing the security calculus on the continent.