Fears of an arms race grow as US and Russia suspend INF Treaty

After the United States announced its withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Russia has followed the suit and declared the suspension of the treaty.

• Defence analysts fear about the arms race due to the suspension of the treaty.

About the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty:

• Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in December 1987.
• The treaty prohibited the United States and the Soviet Union from possessing, testing and deploying ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles of ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometres (300 to 3,400 miles).
• The treaty covered all types of ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles whether their payload is conventional or nuclear.
• The treaty exempted the air-launched and sea-based missile systems in the same range.
• Under the treaty, both US and Russia had destroyed 846 and 1,846 missiles respectively.

How did the INF treaty played a distinctly significant role in diffusing tensions of war?

• Due to the limited range, short flight times and unpredictable flight patterns, it was difficult to detect the short and medium ranges missiles.
• As a result, there was a threat of nuclear war in Europe which is sandwiched between Russia and US.
• The missiles were designed chiefly to fight a theatre nuclear war in Europe.
• It exacerbated crisis instability and increased the chances of an accidental nuclear war.
• Hence the destruction of these missiles under the provisions of the INF treaty was highly beneficial towards enhancing both regional and global security.

How would things pan out now?

• Both Russia and US would indulge in the development of these short and medium ranges missiles.
• There could be an arms race with EU joining the race as a third entity.
• Since these missiles are mobile, hard to detect, nuclear-capable and can reach European cities they have hardly any warning time at all so they reduce the threshold for any potential use of nuclear weapons in a conflict.
• This would lead to instability and trust deficit.

Question:

Q. After the United States announced its withdrawal, Russia has followed the suit and declared the suspension of which treaty?
a. Long-Range Nuclear Forces (LNF) Treaty
b. Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty
c. Medium-Range Nuclear Forces (MNF) Treaty
d. Small-Range Nuclear Forces (SNF) Treaty