The US is considering a range of moves to counter Russia’s alleged violation of a nuclear arms treaty, including bolstering missile defenses or even deploying land-based missiles in Europe, officials said on Friday.
The options were expected to be discussed at a meeting of senior military officers and diplomats convened by US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter during a visit on Friday to Stuttgart, Germany, Pentagon officials told reporters.
The talks were to focus on Moscow’s role in the Ukraine conflict as well as its suspected breach of the arms control agreement, with an array of potential countermeasures to be laid out, officials said.
“These options have a range to them,” a defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Installing land-based missiles in Europe was a more aggressive step “at the far end of the spectrum,” the official said.
Washington last year accused Moscow of violating a Cold War-era arms control agreement, the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, by testing a banned, ground-launched cruise missile.
Carter told US legislators earlier this year that the arms control agreement was a “two-way street,” and Washington might take its own steps if Russia did not back off.
“The administration is considering an array of potential military responses to Russia’s ongoing violation of the INF treaty,” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Joe Sowers said.
“All the options under consideration are designed to ensure that Russia gains no significant military advantage from their violation,” Sowers said.
Some of the options are in line with the arms control treaty, but some are not, officials said.
US Assistant Secretary of Defense for the new Office of Strategy, Plans and Capabilities Robert Scher told legislators in April that one option could be to beef up defenses of potential targets of the Russian cruise missile.
A second option could “look at how we could go about and actually attack that missile where it is in Russia,” Scher said, adding that a third option would be “to look at what things we can hold at risk within Russia itself.”
His comments appeared to signal striking at Russian military targets other than the missiles.
US Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Brian McKeon told US legislators in December last year that the US could consider putting ground-launched cruise missiles in Europe.
Such weapons are banned under the INF treaty.
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