The announcement on 1st February by the United States that it is suspending its compliance with the INF Treaty, with full withdrawal to follow in August, marks a major and dangerous step on the road to a new nuclear arms race. Suspension or withdrawal paves the way for the US to develop and deploy the classes of medium and shorter-range nuclear missiles outlawed under the Treaty, and would likely be met by similar actions on the Russian side.
The Treaty, signed by Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev in 1987, eliminated all US and Russian nuclear missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 km. It has been widely regarded as one of the most successful international nuclear arms reduction measures, removing a whole class of weapons which had largely been targetted at European cities in the event of hostilities between the former USSR and the US.
Since 2014, both the US and Russia have alleged that the other state is in breach of the treaty through the development on new nuclear-capable missile systems, although neither side has published conclusive evidence of this.
"At a time when the world already faces unprecedented crises in the form of climate change, regional conflicts and refugee movements, it beggars belief that the leadership of any civilised state would open the gates towards expanding its capacity to destroy life on earth through the development of new nuclear weapons systems", said Dr David Hutchinson Edgar, chairperson of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
"Alleged breaches of the INF Treaty should be dealt with through the appropriate international legal mechanisms, such as the Treaty's own Review Commission or the ICJ", he continued. "Ripping up a Treaty which has worked effectively for over thirty years is an outrageous and irresponsible action which can only serve to jeopardise world peace further at a time when international stability is possible less secure than at any time since the end of the second world war.
"We now know that luck played a large part in averting a nuclear catastrophe on several occasions during the cold war. In the event of a renewed nuclear arms race which would involve at least the United States, Russia and China, the world may not be so lucky.
"We believe it is imperative that all nuclear-armed states, not just the US and Russia, fulfil their obligations to disarm as specified under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The obvious way for them to do so is to engage with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, negotiated in 2017 with the support of over 120 countries.
"In particular, we urge the Irish government to prioritise the ratification of the Treaty as a matter of urgency. We also call on the Irish government to work with our European colleagues to ensure that any future American requests to site nuclear missiles in EU member states will be refused."
