A meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels ended Friday failing to agree on the continued dispute surrounding the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, leaving the matter unresolved. US officials indicate they’ll withdraw from INF in the next two weeks.



The entire issue surrounding the INF is a claimed Russian violation based on a new missile system and US speculation about the missile’s hypothetical maximum range. NATO backed the US claims of a violation, and there’s really been no progress since.



Russia has offered some access to the missiles, including putting one on display publicly in Moscow for foreign military attaches and foreign journalists to review. The US insisted that this wouldn’t be enough.



The US says they will ditch the treaty if Russia doesn’t end the violation, and at this point that’s only doable by totally disarming their short-range ballistic missiles in the next week, something they clearly won’t do.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz