Russia Has Violated the INF Treaty

The State Department has finally found Russia to be in violation of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), something many of us have known for many months. The Russians violated the INF treaty by testing a ground-launched cruise missile that is within the prohibited range of the treaty. I’d like the State Department to be candid about how serious this violation is and what we are going to do about it. I’ve pushed the Administration and the State Department to make this determination for months in hearings, the media, and in correspondence.

As it is, the report is over three months late which is unfortunate given the fact that Russia has been violating this treaty for five years. Russia must be held accountable for this violation and they must be stopped from deploying this missile. Arms control agreements mean nothing if one party is adhering to them and the other party violates them. That’s what we have here. It’s time to take off the blindfold and see Russia for who it really is: a country that cannot be trusted.