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Expert expands on how EU let US violate INF treaty in Europe

Under that deal, the parties agreed not to produce, test or deploy ballistic and cruise intermediate-range and shorter-range ground-based missiles

MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. The European Union is Washington’s accomplice in terms of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, since it allowed the deployment of missile defense systems to Romania and Poland, Sergey Rogov, Academic Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for the US and Canadian Studies, said during a panel discussion on the EU’s role in global politics at the Institute of European Studies.

"The EU has actually approved the violation of the treaty on intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles by the United States," he said.

"Since the missile defense bases deployed to Romania and Poland include launchers capable of firing sea-based cruise missiles, and since these bases have become ground-launched ones, that means that the INF treaty has been breached."

"Meanwhile, the Europeans accuse Russia of violating this treaty, too. However, it was violated by the US, and in that case Europe has become an accomplice in violating the INF Treaty," Rogov concluded.

In 2016, NATO deployed missile defense infrastructure to Romania. Later that year, the construction of a missile defense base began in Poland, which continues today. NATO officials insist that this fully meets the provisions of the treaty.

In July 2014, Washington accused Moscow of violating in the INF treaty for the first time. Later on, the US has repeatedly come up with similar accusations. Russia has refuted them, accusing Washington of failing to comply with the treaty’s provisions.

In addition to that, Moscow has repeatedly stressed that it had heard no specific accusations from the US on compliance with the treaty. Under that deal, the parties agreed not to produce, test or deploy ballistic and cruise intermediate-range (from 1,000 to 5,500 kilometers) and shorter-range (from 500 to 1,000 kilometers) ground-based missiles.