On Sunday 14 July, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, "strongly" urged Russia to respect the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
"We strongly urge the Russian Federation to effectively address the serious concerns repeatedly expressed about the development, flight testing and deployment of its ground-based 9M729 missile system and the serious concerns this has raised about non-compliance with the INF Treaty", Ms Mogherini stressed in a statement on behalf of the EU.
"In this regard, substantial and transparent actions must be taken immediately to ensure full and verifiable compliance with the provisions of the INF Treaty", she added, recalling that the upcoming days were the "last opportunity for dialogue and taking the necessary measures to preserve this important component of European security architecture".
Without any changes by Russia, the Treaty, denounced by the United States, will end on August 2. On 1 February 2019, the United States announced its withdrawal from the agreement and, on 3 July, Russia announced that it had formally suspended its obligations under the treaty.
The High Representative also warned against a new arms race. "We encourage the United States and the Russian Federation to seek further reductions to their arsenals, including strategic and non-strategic, deployed and non-deployed nuclear weapons, taking into account the special responsibility of the States that possess the largest nuclear arsenals", she said.
According to Ms Mogherini, Europeans support an "early and active dialogue" on the future of New START post-2021 and on other arms control arrangements.
See the statement: https://bit.ly/2JNJvE2 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)