NATO’s top official on Wednesday said that nuclear buildup in Europe is unlikely despite risings tensions over the U.S. threatening to leave a missile pact they allege has been breached by Russia, according to The Associated Press.
{mosads}Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that he does not “foresee that allies will deploy more nuclear weapons in Europe as a response to the new Russian missile.”
Stoltenberg also joined the U.S. in putting the blame on Russia for the treaty’s instability.
“All allies agree that the United States is in full compliance … the problem, the threat, the challenge is Russian behavior,” he said.
“NATO is in favor of arms control but to be effective, arms control agreements have to be respected by all parties.”
White House national security adviser John Bolton reaffirmed the administration’s decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
The INF, signed in 1987 between former President Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, has been a landmark agreement in the effort to curb arms accumulation. However, the United States accuses Russia of breaching the INF since 2014.
Despite expert warnings that new Russian missiles could easily reach targets around Europe, Stoltenberg has said their development is unlikely to precipitate another retaliatory build up.
“We don’t want a new Cold War,” he said. “We don’t want a new arms race.”