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US demands to dig deep into Russia’s missile sector inadmissible — diplomat

Russian-US consultations on the INF Treaty continued more than two hours on Tuesday

GENEVA, January 16. /TASS/. US demands to gain a profound knowledge of Russia’s missile projects are inadmissible for Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

"During today’s consultations, our US colleagues focused solely on the 9M729 missile. Other Russian weapons falling under the INF treaty were not discussed," he said after US-Russian consultations in Geneva on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

"The US demands to - as they put it - eliminate this system in a full and verifiable manner are so far-reaching that they, in fact, envisage the very deep analysis by US specialists of our activities, of our projects currently being carried out to improve our missiles," he said. "Naturally, we cannot accept this."

Russian-US consultations on the INF Treaty continued more than two hours on Tuesday. The Russian delegation was led by Ryabkov, while the US delegation - by Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson.

US President Donald Trump said on October 20, 2018, that Washington would withdraw from the INF Treaty because Russia was violating the terms of the agreement. On December 4, 2018, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that his country would stop fulfilling its liabilities under the INF Treaty unless Russia returned to "full and verifiable" compliance with it within 60 days.

Washington claims that Russia’s 9M729 missile system allegedly violates this agreement. Earlier, Russia notified its partners that the missile was test-fired during the West-2017 military exercises and covered the maximum distance of less than 480 kilometers.

The INF Treaty, signed by the Soviet Union and the United States on December 8, 1987, took effect on June 1, 1988. It applies to deployed and non-deployed ground-based missiles of intermediate range (1,000-5,000 kilometers) and shorter range (500-1,000 kilometers). In the recent years, Washington has been repeatedly accusing Russia of violating the treaty. Moscow strongly dismissed the accusations and voiced its own claims concerning Washington’s non-compliance.