Political

Home page

Political

European Parliament calls on EU to invite Russia, US to negotiate Mechanism Replacing INF

20 February 2020 00:56 (UTC +04:00)

The European Parliament has recommended the European External Action Service to call on Russia and the United States to resume their dialogue and look for a new mechanism to control the situation around the intermediate- and short-range missiles following the collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), APA reports citing Sputnik.

"With the collapse of the INF treaty last summer in mind, MEPs [members of European Parliament] recommend that EU representatives call on the US and Russia to resume dialogue and find a way to put in place a new legally binding instrument for short- and medium-range missiles. They should also stress that a clear commitment from Russia and the US to extend the new START Treaty [Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty] before it expires in February 2021 would contribute significantly to the NPT [Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons] review conference", the European Parliament said in a press release on Wednesday.

The INF Treaty, signed in 1987 and banning any ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 310 to 3,417 miles, was terminated on 2 August as Washington formally suspended its obligations under the accord six months earlier.