UK Concerned by US-Russian Dispute Over INF Treaty

UK's Head of Nuclear Operations for the Director General Nuclear, Commodore Paul Burke says that London is concerned about the dispute between Russia and the United States over the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

OMAHA (Sputnik) — London is concerned about the dispute between Russia and the United States over the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), UK's Head of Nuclear Operations for the Director General Nuclear, Commodore Paul Burke told Sputnik.

"It’s a US-Russia treaty so we won’t get involved with that but obviously we are concerned seeing what happens. It’s a US decision," Burke said on the sidelines of the STRATCOM Deterrence Symposium in Omaha, Nebraska on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) commander Gen. John Hyten said that The United States would like to remain in the INF treaty with Russia, and desires that both nations be in compliance with the agreement.

In June, the Politico media outlet reported, citing several congressmen, that the US presidential administration was considering US Congress' proposal to withdraw from the INF Treaty. Russia’s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control (DNAC) Deputy Director Vladimir Leontiev said there was a possibility that US withdrawal from the INF Treaty would cause an arms race.

The 1987 INF treaty prohibits the development, deployment and testing of ground-launched ballistic or cruise missiles with ranges between 300 and 3,400 miles.

The United States and Russia have repeatedly accused each other of violating the INF treaty.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said on more than one occasion that Moscow was in full compliance with the INF treaty. Lavrov has also said that Russia has concerns over US compliance, or lack thereof, with the INF treaty, and has repeatedly called on the United States to discuss in detail the most controversial points related to the treaty’s implementation.