The American ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison, said on Tuesday the U.S. military is prepared to “take out” banned Russian cruise missiles if they are deployed against Europe in defiance of a treaty dating back to the Cold War.
Hutchison stressed that diplomacy was the preferred approach, but if that fails, “we would be looking at the capability to take out a missile that could hit any of our countries.”
“Countermeasures would be to take out the missiles that are in development by Russia in violation of the treaty. They are on notice,” she said.
“We have been trying to send a message to Russia for several years that we know they are violating the treaty, we have shown Russia the evidence that we have that they are violating the treaty. We are laying down the markers so that our allies will help us bring Russia to the table,” Hutchison explained. She implied NATO might begin deploying weapons that violate the treat if Russia continues to ignore it.
The treaty in question is the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which is still in effect and was formally recognized by Russia as recently as its 30th-anniversary celebration last year. The treaty bans nuclear-capable ground-launched cruise missiles that could hit Europe or U.S. territory such as Alaska.
Russia’s new 9M729 cruise missile, identified by U.S. intelligence last year, appears to be a variant of a legal ground-launched missile with much shorter range. The 9M729 system has an assessed range of up to 3,400 miles, far above what the INF permits. READ MORE
