MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. The fact that the Russia-initiated resolution supporting the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) was voted down at the United Nations General Assembly will enable Washington to ruin the document thanks to those countries that rejected it, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
"Now that the INF treaty has been ruined, several regions in the world at once may be involved in the arms race, if not in a direct confrontation. Those countries’ policy of connivance or thoughtless over-compromising have virtually enabled Washington to ruin the document," the ministry said.
According to the ministry, for official adoption of the draft by two thirds of votes, it would be required "that a sufficient number of allies and closest partners of the US demonstrate independence in international affairs and, despite Washington’s toughest pressure, demonstrate a responsible approach to preserving the system of arms control mechanisms that has cracked by the US fault." Those countries, first of all NATO members, despite their statements about the INF Treaty’s importance, have acted at its opponents, the statement said.
Moscow considers the results of the UN General Assembly voting on the resolution supporting the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty dissatisfying, being a new crackdown on the global security architecture.
"The results of the UN General Assembly voting on the draft resolution supporting the INF Treaty spearheaded by Russia with assistance of ten countries cannot but disappoint," the statement said.
The ministry also thanked the countries that backed Russia’s efforts in the UN and "thus gave a signal about the importance" of the INF Treaty.
On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly voted down the resolution in support of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Forty-three nations voted for the document, forty-six were against and another seventy-eight abstained.
Among those who voted against the resolution were the United States, the European Union nations, Japan, Turkey, Israel and Ukraine. The document was supported by China, member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Iran, Syria and a number of Latin American countries.
INF Treaty
The INF, or The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, Treaty was signed by the former Soviet Union and the United States on December 8, 1987 and entered into force on June 1, 1988. It 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).
In 1992, following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the treaty was multilateralized with the former Soviet republics - Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine - as successors. The US accused Russia of violating the treaty for the first time in July 2014. Since then, Washington has been repeating its claims on many occasions, while Moscow has been rejecting them and advancing counter-claims concerning the implementation of the treaty by the US side.
US President Donald Trump said on October 20 that Washington would withdraw from the INF Treaty because Russia was violating the terms of the agreement. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov described this decision as a dangerous step. Washington’s decision came under criticism from Berlin and Beijing. However, London expressed support to the US’ stance and NATO placed responsibility for Trump’s decision on Russia, which, it claims, may violate the treaty.