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The United States has concluded that Russia violated a landmark arms control treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile, according to senior American officials, a finding that was conveyed by President Obama to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in a letter on Monday.
At the heart of the issue is the 1987 treaty that bans medium-range missiles, which are defined as ground-launched ballistic or cruise missiles capable of flying 300 to 3,400 miles. That accord, which was signed by President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, helped seal the end of the Cold War and has been regarded as a cornerstone of American-Russian arms control efforts.
Russia first began testing the cruise missiles as early as 2008, according to American officials, and the Obama administration concluded by the end of 2011 that they were a compliance concern. In May 2013, Rose Gottemoeller, the State Department’s senior arms control official, first raised the possibility of a violation with Russian officials.
Was this the flexibility Obama conveyed to Russian President Medvedev prior to the 2012 elections?
Why has the administration waited so long to find this egregious breech a problem?
NATO’s top commander, Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, has said that the violation requires a response if it cannot be resolved.
“A weapon capability that violates the I.N.F., 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.”
Have the war tom toms started a slow and quiet beat... or, is President Obama just attempting to look strong in the face of much adversity lately?
U.S.: Russia Violated Treaty By Testing Cruise Missile