MOSCOW. Oct 23 (Interfax) - Russia has suggested turning the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty into a universal agreement for a large number of countries, but the United States' possible withdrawal from this treaty will not give any guarantees that a new multilateral document may be signed, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachyov said.
"Criticism of the INF Treaty, that it places restrictions only on the U.S. and Russia, is on the whole fair, and our country too voiced a similar stance more than once in the past. This treaty needs to become universal, and the Russian initiative of 2007 remains on the table," Kosachyov wrote on his Facebook page.
U.S. President Donald "Trump's position in favor of updating this treaty by ruining it does not hold water," he said.
"If the U.S. unilaterally quits it, there will not be any guarantees still that a multilateral document may appear, but the U.S. (and certainly Russia) will be given a free hand in this situation with all of the consequences that come with it," he said.
The INF Treaty is important because it minimizes the possibility of a nuclear conflict, Kosachyov said.
"Missiles with an even shorter range (less than 500 kilometers) largely render the nuclear component meaningless (such an attack will affect both sides due to an insignificant distance), while missiles with an even longer range (more than 5,500 kilometers) allow the object of such an attack to launch a retaliatory counter-strike on the author of this attack, a circumstance that also serves as a deterrent. But if there is no INF Treaty, a nuclear war could be closer," Kosachyov said.
Kosachyov described the U.S. president's call for China alone to join this treaty as the "ultimate political cynicism."
"The United Kingdom and France (which, I would like to remind everyone, are the United States' NATO allies) and other nuclear and nuclear threshold countries (India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel) have short- and intermediate-range missiles. Believing that this problem can be solved through the elimination of this class of missiles only in hypothetical adversaries of the U.S. itself means [...] an attempt to change the world as it sees fit, creating exclusively privileged conditions of security for the West and for others, by residual principle, a situation of dependence on the West," Kosachyov said.
"Only those who will demonstrate the 'right behavior' will be given a security umbrella," he said.
"But it does not work that way, and hopefully no such thing will happen under any circumstances," Kosachyov said.