U.S.: Russia violated arms treaty

Obama letter to Putin says test of missile barred by ’87 pact

WASHINGTON -- The United States has concluded that Russia violated a landmark arms control treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile, according to senior U.S. officials, a finding that was conveyed by President Barack Obama to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a letter Monday.

It is the most serious allegation of an arms control treaty violation that the Obama administration has leveled against Russia and adds another dispute to a relationship already burdened by tensions over the Kremlin's support for separatists in Ukraine and its decision to grant asylum to Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor.

Russia first began testing the cruise missiles as early as 2008, according to U.S. officials, Obama administration officials concluded by the end of 2011 that the cruise missile test was a compliance concern, officials have said. Rose Gottemoeller, the State Department's senior arms control official, first raised the violation concern with Russian officials in May 2013.

In January, The New York Times reported that U.S. officials had informed NATO allies that Russia had tested a ground-launched cruise missile, raising serious concerns about Russia's compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF Treaty, as it is commonly called.

The State Department said at the time that the issue was under review and that the Obama administration was not yet ready to formally declare it a treaty violation.

In recent months, however, the issue has been taken up by top-level officials, including a meeting this month of the Principals' Committee, a Cabinet-level body that includes Obama's national security adviser, the defense secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretary of state and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Senior officials said the president's most senior advisers unanimously agreed that the test was a serious violation, and the allegation will be made public soon in the State Department's annual report on international compliance with arms control agreements.

In his letter to Putin, delivered by the U.S. Embassy, Obama underscored his interest in a high-level dialogue with Moscow with the aim of preserving the 1987 treaty and discussing steps the Kremlin might take to come back into compliance. Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a similar message in a Sunday phone call to Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister.

The Russians have also raised their own allegations, a move that U.S. officials said they believe is intended to muddy the issue and perhaps give them leverage in any negotiations over compliance. One month after Gottemoeller raised the U.S. concerns about the testing of the ground-launched cruise missile, the Russians responded by pointing to U.S. plans to base the Aegis missile system in Romania.

The Aegis system, which is commonly used on warships, would be used to protect U.S. and NATO forces from missile attacks. But the Russians have alleged that it could be used to fire prohibited cruise missiles.

When Kerry spoke with Lavrov on Sunday, the Russian foreign minister cited Russia's concerns over "decoys." That may have been a reference to Russian charges that the targets the United States uses in anti-missile tests are an INF Treaty violation. U.S. officials regard those allegations, about the issue of the Aegis system and complaints about the use of targets, to be spurious.

NATO's top commander, Gen. Philip Breedlove, has said the violation requires a response if it cannot be resolved.

"A weapon capability that violates the INF, that is introduced into the greater European land mass is absolutely a tool that will have to be dealt with," he said in an interview in April. "It can't go unanswered."

Obama has determined that the United States will not retaliate against the Russians by violating the treaty and deploying its own prohibited medium-range system, officials said. So the responses might include deploying sea-launched and air-launched cruise missiles, which would be allowable under the accord.

A Section on 07/29/2014

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