The violation by Russia of the INF Treaty that the US and NATO are referring to is Russia’s development of a weapon system since the mid-2000s called the 9M729 land-based cruise missile. The Russian government claims that this missile “fully complies with the treaty’s requirements.” The US and NATO disagree. Russia’s claim about compliance could have been verified, or disproved, but the US refused to engage with Russia’s offer to allow the missile to be inspected.

Indeed, the US has shared a part in the treaty’s demise since it has been undertaking steps that can be seen as violating the spirit if not the letter of the INF Treaty. As academic Theodore Postol has argued in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, “publicly available information makes it clear that the US Aegis-based systems in Eastern Europe, if equipped with cruise missiles, would indeed violate the INF,” and “the Aegis systems in Eastern Europe have characteristics that make them especially threatening to Russia.” As early as May 2015, the US Department of State revealed that Russian officials have asserted that US Aegis launchers were “inconsistent with the treaty.”

The US is also in the process of developing new nuclear-armed cruise missiles. The announcement of the formal withdrawal, on August 2, was accompanied by the announcement that “the US military is set to test a new non-nuclear mobile-launched cruise missile.” The US, in other words, is playing its part in the “it takes two to tango” dynamic of arms races.

All of these developments demand the concern of all those interested in international security and peace, including here in Canada. There are at least two good reasons for Canada to be involved.

First, the unravelling of arms control treaties directly undermines the rules-based international order. The number one priority for Global Affairs Canada, according to the department’s 2018-2019 report, is strengthening this order; this follows from the Canadian government’s commitment “to play an active role in the preservation and strengthening of an international order based on rules.” The withdrawal of both the US and Russia from the INF Treaty directly contradicts this goal, and could further hasten the dismantlement of any rules-based order when it comes to nuclear weapons and their control. (The unilateral decision by the US to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that was negotiated with multiple countries and Iran has already contributed to such dismantlement.)

Second, Canada is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which the government describes as the only remaining “legally-binding global treaty promoting nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.” Under Article 6 of the NPT, each party to the treaty “undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.” This obligation was highlighted by the International Court of Justice in its 1996 opinion and applies to all parties to the treaty, not just the nuclear weapon states. Canada, too, is obliged to pursue and push for peaceful negotiations regarding the INF Treaty and the future of nuclear disarmament mechanisms.