28 Mar 2024
Wednesday 28 October 2015 - 09:46
Story Code : 186183

Calm down: Nuclear war between US-Russia not in the cards

Neither the United States nor Russia wants to restart the nuclear arms race, thats why both Washington and Moscow will stick to the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), Russian political scientist Sergei Mikhailov told Radio Sputnik.

According toMikhailov, we can all relax and take a deep breath now, asthe United States and Moscow aren't going tonuke each other offthe face ofthe earth.

"I think that inthe short term, the agreement [INF] will remain infull force, because right now it is beneficial both forRussia and the United States," the expert said.

Mikhailov said that the ongoing accusations coming fromboth countries againsteach other come amidthe overall deterioration ofrelations betweenthe two countries. The United States first claimed that Russia violated the treaty in2008, butreal accusations didn't start until2013, when the political relationship betweenthe two countries began.

Therefore, the issue here isn't merely aboutthe actual arms race, butthe diplomatic element ofa broader political confrontation betweenWashington and Moscow, Mikhailov explained.

The US side can't clearly formulate their accusations. Within the US government itself different administrative bodies can't even agree amongthemselves just what exactly Russia is doing wrong and how it's violating the INF treaty. In other words, a lot ofhearsay, butno concrete evidence, Mikhailov said.

Both the United States and Russia have levelled mutual accusations that each side has violated the INF Treaty.

The INF Treaty, signed bythe United States and the then Soviet Union in1987, bans nuclear and conventional ground-based cruise and ballistic missiles witha range of500-5,500 kilometers (300-3,400 miles).

By Sputnik News
https://theiranproject.com/vdcg739qwak97q4.5jra.html
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