MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/. Almost two-thirds of Russian citizens (63%) believe Moscow must undertake efforts to salvage the INF accord, but dismiss US accusations of Russia’s failure to comply with its provisions as unfounded (74%), an opinion poll carried out by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center reveals.
"Three-fourths of those surveyed have heard about the US plans to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Almost two-thirds of the respondents believe that Russia is in some way or another interested in maintaining the treaty (62%), and that is why the agreement must stay in place (63%). Twenty-one percent of the polled Russians think the opposite," says the survey publicized on Monday.
Most Russians (84%, of whom 61% are not aware of the details) know about the treaty, and almost half of them (49%) think it is advantageous for both sides, while each third Russian national believes the INF Treaty offer the US more benefits.
As for Washington’s accusations that Russia had violated the agreement, most respondents (74%) call them unfounded. Meanwhile, 66% of the polled Russians see Moscow’s counterclaims against the US for its failure to comply with the accord as rather justified.
Opinions are divided as to who is more committed to saving the INF Treaty, with 29% saying the two countries are equally concerned about this, compared to 33% who say Russia is more committed to seeing the treaty remain in place, while 10% say the US is more interested. As many as 15% of those surveyed believe neither side is seeking to maintain the treaty.
"The Gorbachev-Reagan era, remembered for the signing of the INF and other treaties on reducing nuclear arms, is nowadays labeled by Russia’s public opinion as primarily a period of collapse and Russia surrendering its positions. However, despite widespread concerns of these treaties’ being more advantageous for the US, Russians see them as major mechanisms for maintaining peace and security across the globe," pollster’s Director General Valery Fedorov said.
"The US leadership’s new policy to scrap these arms reduction deals is unacceptable and harmful in our people’s opinion. It raises the threat of a nuclear war and mutual extermination and adds tensions to the relationship between the two countries," Fedorov stressed.
The nationwide poll involving 1,600 respondents was conducted on January 22. The margin of error does not exceed 2.5% at a 95% confidence level.
Road to INF exit
On Friday, US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that Washington would suspend its liabilities under the INF Treaty starting February 2 and would quit it within six months if Russia did not come into compliance with the agreement.
A day later, on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded in kind, saying that Moscow would suspend the Cold War-era arms reduction treaty. Moreover, he told his ministers not to initiate disarmament talks with Washington, underscoring that the United States should become "mature enough" for equal and meaningful dialogue. Putin pointed out that Russia would start work on the development of new weapons mirroring Washington’s steps. In particular, work will begin on a new hypersonic ground-launched medium-range missile.
The US began censuring Russia for allegedly breaking the treaty in July 2014. Since then, Washington has repeated its accusations on many occasions. In turn, Moscow has rebuffed these allegations and advanced counterclaims against the US, saying that Washington has failed to comply with the accord.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed by the Soviet Union and the United States on December 8, 1987, entered into force on June 1, 1988. The INF deal covered deployed and non-deployed ground-based short-range missiles (from 500 to 1,000 kilometers) and intermediate-range missiles (from 1,000 to 5,500 kilometers). By June 1991, the parties had met their obligations under the treaty, as the Soviet Union had destroyed 1,846 missiles and the United States eliminated 846.