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USSR signed INF Treaty on disadvantageous terms, Russian senator says

Russian Federation Council member Viktor Bondarev said Russia will no longer tolerate pressure like it used to "in the 'perestroika' years"

General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev and President of the United States Ronald Reagan (L-R) signing the Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the elimination of their intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles (INF Treaty) at the White House in 1987 ITAR-TASS/Eduard Pesov

General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev and President of the United States Ronald Reagan (L-R) signing the Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the elimination of their intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles (INF Treaty) at the White House in 1987

© ITAR-TASS/Eduard Pesov

MOSCOW, December 5. /TASS/. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) between the US and the Soviet Union was signed on disadvantageous terms for Moscow, Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Defense and Security Committee Chairman Viktor Bondarev told TASS on Wednesday.

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Russia opposes breaking INF Treaty but will have to respond if US withdraws, says Putin

"Americans did not have to pay a high price for the INF Treaty. It was not based on parity," he said. The senator explained that "at the time when the treaty was signed, the Soviet Union had only ground-based medium- and short-range missiles, while the United States already had sea-launched and airborne missiles of this kind."

According to Bondarev, the Soviet government put the country in a vulnerable position. Moreover, "apart from weapons that were supposed to be destroyed according to the document, the Oka missile complexes were also eliminated though the agreement did not cover them," he noted.

"And now Americans once again demand unilateral concessions from us. However, our country is not the one with which the US made the INF Treaty to its own advantage. Today, Russia is strong, and we will not tolerate pressure like we used to in the ‘perestroika’ years," the senator said. "Russia has no intention to make unilateral concessions and will not agree to make it a one-way street," Bondarev added.

Situation around INF Treaty

On October 20, US President Donald Trump said that Washington would pull out of the INF Treaty because Russia had allegedly violated it.

The INF Treaty was concluded on December 8, 1987, and 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.

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said on December 3 following the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting that Washington would suspend its obligations under the Treaty unless Moscow returned to "full and verifiable" compliance within 60 days.

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