MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. Washington did not answer to Moscow’s proposal to hold consultations to determine the fate of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with newspaper Kommersant published on Tuesday.
"As far as I know, no answer was received," he said, answering the question on whether the Pentagon reacted to Russia’s proposal to hold consultations on the treaty.
Ryabkov noted that the American side did not name any facts which led it to assume that the launches of the Russian missile 9M729 violated the INF Treaty. "The US did not provide the information on the basis of which it determined the launch range of our missile and came to the conclusion that it was missile 9M729 that was tested. This information is extremely important for a military-technical discussion of the problem," the high-profile diplomat explained.
"We explained to the Americans at the expert discussions that their assumptions about the duration and character of the testing for missile 9M729 are wrong, and we set temporary testing time limits for them. We also pointed to Washington’s wrong vision of the types of launching pads from which flight test for the specified missile were carried out," the Russian deputy foreign minister explained. "We also highlighted that a great number of testing launches of missiles of various types and various classes were carried out in the area specified by the Americans at the Kapustin Yar Range with the use of various types of launching pads. That said, the requirements of the INF Treaty were firmly and fully executed."
Russia gave the US the necessary information and arguments which show that the missile 9M729 was not used at the range prohibited by the treaty, he concluded.