Op-Ed by Ambassador Jon Huntsman for RBC | U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Russia

"The U.S. finding is not based on a misunderstanding of this system.  The 9M729 represents a flagrant violation of the INF Treaty that Russia’s leaders intended to keep secret.  Rather than rush to judgment, the United States pursued diplomacy for more than five years, first raising the issue with Russia in 2013.  Since then, and under two different administrations, the United States has raised the topic on over thirty occasions with Russian officials, including at the highest levels, and participated in six meetings of technical experts in an effort to persuade Russia to return to compliance with the Treaty.

While Russia now acknowledges the existence of the 9M729, which it had denied until 2017, it continues to falsely assert that the missile is compliant with the INF Treaty, spreading false information about the missile’s range, capability, and testing history."
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Op-Ed by Ambassador Jon Huntsman for RBC | U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Russia: The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed in 1987, prohibits the United States and Russia from possessing ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 KM.  In the early years of this historic treaty, both sides collectively destroyed more than 2,600 missiles.