CORRECTED: Russia ready to ‘save’ INF arms treaty, urges Europe to help

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday Moscow was ready to work with Washington to save a crucial arms control treaty, calling on Europe to help in faltering talks.

Moscow’s top diplomat spoke after fresh talks between US and Russian officials in Geneva to salvage the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF) went nowhere.

“We are still ready to work to save the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty,” Lavrov told reporters.

He called on European nations to help influence Washington, saying they had a major stake in the issue and should not be “at the tail-end of the US position”.

Talks have essentially ground to a halt, Lavrov said, describing Washington’s logic as: “You are violating the treaty and we are not.”

Last month Washington gave Russia a 60-day deadline to dismantle missiles that it claims breach the INF treaty or the US would begin the six-month process of formally withdrawing from the deal.

Russia denies it has violated the treaty, which forbids ground-launched short- and intermediate-range missiles.

On Tuesday, US and Russian diplomats blamed each other for pushing the agreement to the brink of collapse.

Russians said Americans had confirmed Washington’s intention to exit the treaty from February 2.

Russia’s top negotiator in Geneva, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, said the Geneva talks centred on Russia’s 9M729 system but that US demands regarding the missile were unacceptable.

– US trying to ‘impose its will’ –

Russians proposed holding another round of talks on the agreement but received no reply from the US side, Ryabkov said.

Lavrov on Wednesday expressed hope it would be possible to save another key arms control agreement, the New START, which expires in 2021.

“We are interested in having it extended,” he said.

He slammed Washington’s overall position, saying the potential for conflict was increasing due to the West’s unwillingness to accept “the reality of an emerging multi-polar world” and its desire to “impose its will” on the rest of the global community.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to develop nuclear missiles banned under the INF treaty if it is scrapped.

He said in December he was open to the idea of other countries joining the INF treaty or to starting talks on a new agreement.

Putin has also said that if Washington moved to place more missiles in Europe after ditching the deal, Russia would respond “in kind” and that any European countries agreeing to host US missiles would be at risk of a Russian attack.

Signed in 1987 by then US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the treaty bans ground-launched missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometres.

The deal resolved a crisis over Soviet nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles targeting Western capitals, but put no restrictions on other major military actors such as China.