NATO to respond if Russia fails to return to INF treaty

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - NATO will respond if Russia does not come back into compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday.

"If the treaty is not saved, if Russia does not come back into compliance then NATO will respond.

"We will respond in the united way, coordinated, defensive and we have also stated that we are not planning, we do not have any intentions to deploy nuclear missiles in Europe. We will not mirror what Russia does," Stoltenberg told reporters after NATO-Russia Council meeting in Brussels.

The meeting came after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a bill suspending the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with the U.S., which announced its withdrawal from the treaty earlier this year.

On Feb. 2, the U.S. began the process of withdrawing from the INF Treaty, which will be completed in six months unless Russia comes back into compliance by destroying all of its violating missiles, launchers, and associated equipment.

Stoltenberg said that the treaty can be saved if Russia returns to compliance and there are still four weeks to go before the deadline of Aug. 2.

He added that the INF treaty is a "cornerstone" for security."

"Our discussion was frank but necessary. Allies and Russia hold fundamentally different views but we are committed to continuing our dialogue," Stoltenberg said.

The INF treaty has been widely seen as a cornerstone of European security in the post-Cold War era after the U.S. and Russia signed it in 1987. It prohibits both countries from possessing and testing ground launch missiles with a range between 300-3,100 miles.