The announced intention of the United States to pull out from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) might reflect Washington's desire to conclude a new deal with better conditions, Alexander Neu, the Left Party (Die Linke) spokesperson in the Bundestag Defense Committee, told Sputnik Monday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd October, 2018) The announced intention of the United States to pull out from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) might reflect Washington's desire to conclude a new deal with better conditions, Alexander Neu, the Left Party (Die Linke) spokesperson in the Bundestag Defense Committee, told Sputnik Monday.
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the INF treaty over the alleged violations of the agreement by Russia. Earlier on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Moscow would formulate position on the issue only after receiving official clarifications from Washington. He added that any action in this area would be met with a counteraction, stressing that parity would be maintained under any circumstances.
"This is very bad news from the United States because intermediate and short-range systems are quite dangerous for Europe ... On the other hand, it is not to exclude that the United States wants just a new treaty with better conditions, like [in the case of] the nuclear deal with Iran," Neu stated.
The spokesman added that he was not able to assess the credibility of Trump's claims about Moscow breaching the treaty, and stressed once again that the document's nullification would, first of all, affect Europe.
According to the German Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Maria Adebahr, Berlin advocates the preservation of the INF, as well as the functioning mechanism for reduction of weapons in Europe.
The INF treaty was signed between the Soviet Union and the United States in December 1987 and required the parties to destroy their ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (from 311 to 3,317 miles). The United States and Russia have repeatedly accused each other of violating the treaty.
In May, the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which stipulated the gradual lifting of the anti-Iran sanctions in exchange for Tehran maintaining the peaceful nature of its nuclear program. Commenting on the decision, Trump stated that he expected to negotiate a better and fairer deal with Iran.
