19:23 GMT +310 December 2019

U.S. troops from 5th Battalion of the 7th Air Defense Regiment are seen at a test range in Sochaczew, Poland, on Saturday, March 21, 2015

US Seeks to Deploy Intermediate-Range Missiles in Asia 'Sooner Rather Than Later'

© AP Photo / Czarek Sokolowski

Military & Intelligence

12:46 03.08.2019(updated 13:28 03.08.2019) Get short URL

Topic:

Historic Russian-US Nuclear Accord Terminated (19)

221379

Subscribe

https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/images/105533/28/1055332802.jpg

Sputnik International

https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png

Sputnik

https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png

https://sputniknews.com/military/201908031076449264-us-defence-secretary-esper-supports-placing-american-intermediate-range-missiles-in-asia/

The US officially withdrew from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty on 2 August after suspending it in February. Both Washington and Moscow have accused each other of violating the accord, but the US decided to abandon the deal, refusing to negotiate the issue with Russia.

US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper announced on Saturday that he is in favour of deploying American ground-launched intermediate-range missiles in Asia.

"We would like to deploy a capability sooner rather than later", the official told reporters on a plane to Sydney at the start of his week-long tour to the Asia-Pacific region. "I would prefer months ... But these things tend to take longer than you expect".

He didn't specify the destination of the weapons, noting that Washington usually discusses such issues with its allies.

The United States announced in February that it would be suspending its obligations under the INF Treaty, claiming that Russia had violated it by developing the 9M729 missile.

In this photo provided by U.S. Forces Korea, trucks carrying U.S. missile launchers and other equipment needed to set up the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system arrive at the Osan air base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Monday, March 6, 2017.

© AP Photo / U.S. Force Korea

In this photo provided by U.S. Forces Korea, trucks carrying U.S. missile launchers and other equipment needed to set up the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system arrive at the Osan air base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Monday, March 6, 2017.

Moscow has denied the allegations and noted that US defence systems placed in Europe are equipped with launchers capable of firing cruise missiles at ranges prohibited under the treaty. After several attempts to start talks with Washington, President Vladimir Putin signed a retaliatory decree halting Russia's participation in the accord.

Topic:

Historic Russian-US Nuclear Accord Terminated (19)

Related:: German MPs Wary of Possible Deployment of New US Missiles in Light of INF Withdrawal

: Joint Drills With South Korea Still On Despite DPRK Missile Tests - US Official

: EU States Likely to Resist Renewed US Nuclear Buildup in Post-INF World - Analysts

: ‘Omnicidal Weapons’: End of INF Treaty Creates Slippery Slope to Nuclear Winter

: US Withdrawal From INF Treaty Creates Opening for Dangerous Arms Race - Lawmaker

Tags:

missiles, US missiles, Mark Esper, INF Treaty, INF Treaty, INF Treaty Withdrawal, Russia, Asia, United States

Community standardsDiscussion

Comment via FacebookComment via Sputnik

Сomment
Thank you! Your comment will be reviewed by the moderator for compliance with the Rules
Add more
Post limit reached. Please try again in a minute.
Your comment contains a link, so it can't be published on our site

Сomment

Community standards

The fact of registration and authorization of users on Sputnik websites via users’ account or accounts on social networks indicates acceptance of these rules.

Users are obliged abide by national and international laws. Users are obliged to speak respectfully to the other participants in the discussion, readers and individuals referenced in the posts.

The websites’ administration has the right to delete comments made in languages other than the language of the majority of the websites’ content.

In all language versions of the sputniknews.com websites any comments posted can be edited.

A user comment will be deleted if it:

does not correspond with the subject of the post;
promotes hatred and discrimination on racial, ethnic, sexual, religious or social basis or violates the rights of minorities;
violates the rights of minors, causing them harm in any form, including moral damage;
contains ideas of extremist nature or calls for other illegal activities;
contains insults, threats to other users, individuals or specific organizations, denigrates dignity or undermines business reputations;
contains insults or messages expressing disrespect to Sputnik;
violates privacy, distributes personal data of third parties without their consent or violates privacy of correspondence;
describes or references scenes of violence, cruelty to animals;
contains information about methods of suicide, incites to commit suicide;
pursues commercial objectives, contains improper advertising, unlawful political advertisement or links to other online resources containing such information;
promotes products or services of third parties without proper authorization;
contains offensive language or profanity and its derivatives, as well as hints of the use of lexical items falling within this definition;
contains spam, advertises spamming, mass mailing services and promotes get-rich-quick schemes;
promotes the use of narcotic / psychotropic substances, provides information on their production and use;
contains links to viruses and malicious software;
is part of an organized action involving large volumes of comments with identical or similar content ("flash mob");
“floods” the discussion thread with a large number of incoherent or irrelevant messages;
violates etiquette, exhibiting any form of aggressive, humiliating or abusive behavior ("trolling");
doesn’t follow standard rules of the English language, for example, is typed fully or mostly in capital letters or isn’t broken down into sentences.

The administration has the right to block a user’s access to the page or delete a user’s account without notice if the user is in violation of these rules or if behavior indicating said violation is detected.

Users can initiate the recovery of their account / unlock access by contacting the moderators at moderator@sputniknews.com

The letter must contain:

Subject - the restoration of account / unlock access
User ID
An explanation of the actions which were in violation of the rules above and resulted in the lock.

If the moderators deem it possible to restore the account / unlock access, it will be done.

In the case of repeated violations of the rules above resulting in a second block of a user’s account, access cannot be restored.

To contact the team of moderators, write to moderator@sputniknews.com