On January 4, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, in an interview with DPA (Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH - the largest German news agency), unequivocally stated: they say, if Russia does not return to the execution of the Treaty on the Elimination of Medium and Short-Range Missiles , NATO will respond to this adequately.
- It is important that Russia now has a last chance. If Russia does not return to the terms of the agreement, we will have a big problem. We will not overreact, but this will have to be done. Our priority is to bring Russia back into compliance with the treaty, the head of NATO emphasized.
What kind of reaction NATO was talking specifically - it was not entirely clear. In particular, Jens Stoltenberg avoided answering the question of whether NATO can rule out that the US will deploy its nuclear missiles in Europe under bilateral agreements. However, he noted that he welcomes the decision of the foreign ministers of the countries of the alliance, who in December agreed on the need to solve this within the organization.
Recall, on December 4, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo officially accused Russia of non-compliance with the INF. The contract does not allow the parties to have ground-based ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with a range from 500 to 5.5 thousand kilometers. Moscow and Washington regularly accuse each other of violating its conditions. Washington demanded that Moscow return to the terms of the agreement within 60 days, otherwise the treaty will be suspended. Russia considers these allegations to be false.
