Administration Officials Threaten Economic, Military Measures Over Russian Arms Control Violations
The Obama administration is mulling over economic, and potentially militaristic, measures against Russia over that country’s recent violations of arms control treaties, two top Obama administration officials said in testimony for a House hearing on Dec. 10. The U.S. continues to accuse Russia of breaking the rules in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty by testing a particular ground-launched cruise missile, but Russia refuses to acknowledge the violation, said Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of arms control and international security at the State Department, and Brian McKeon, principal deputy undersecretary for policy at the Defense Department.
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Gottemoeller said Russia is also in clear violation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe as well as the Budapest Memorandum. The U.S. is continuing to evaluate whether Russian is out of compliance with several other arms control treaties, she added. President Barack Obama, mostly in accordance with European partners, has authorized federal agencies to level a series of sanctions packages against Russia and Ukrainian individuals and entities since Russian forces seized Crimea in March. The Russian aircraft industry, along with the energy sector, may feel the brunt of the sanctions in the coming months, some U.S. analysts say (see 14092601). Russian President Vladimir Putin said the sanctions violate World Trade Organization rules, but he declined to commit to retaliation (see 14092315).
The U.S. uncovered the Russian violation of the INF in 2013, but the administration has taken the past two years to consider its options, said Gottemoeller. Although Russian and the U.S. maintain diplomatic relations, the Ukrainian aggression and treaty violations are threatening cooperation and confidence between the two countries. “Russian possession, development or deployment of their weapons systems in violation of the treaty will not be ignored,” added McKeon. Several Republican lawmakers at the hearing blasted the two witnesses for not doing enough to address Russian aggression. The two administration officials also testified before a closed-door classified hearing that followed the public one.