Russia’s blatant violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces agreement by deploying a land-based cruise missile that threatens Europe must be confronted, the U.S. general in charge of America’s nuclear arsenal told Congress Tuesday.
“I think every step that Russia takes has to be responded to,” said Gen. John Hyten, head of U.S. Strategic Command. “It’s not necessarily a military response, but the nation has to figure out how to respond.”
Russia has deployed a single missile in violation of the Cold War pact, but it’s not the missile so much as the message behind it that Hyten sees as an ominous sign.
“A single ground-launched cruise missile is not a significant threat to the United States or our allies,” Hyten said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. But, he said, “It shows the beginning of a deployment of a structure that could be a threat in the future.”
If Russia continues to deploy cruise missiles in significant numbers, it could pose a more serious threat and potentially intimidate NATO nations on Russia’s periphery.
“We have no defense for it, especially in defense of our European allies. That system can range and threaten most of the continent of Europe depending on where it is deployed,” Hyten said. “It is a concern and we’re going to have to figure out how deal with it as a nation.”
Last week in London, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the U.S. is still formulating a response to the Russian provocation.
“We are in consultation with our allies and we are still formulating the way ahead,” Mattis said. “In fact, it will be addressed I think very, very soon as a matter of highest level concern.”
But even if Moscow withdraws the missile, the fact that Russia deployed it in the first place, in clear violation of the decades-old treaty, raises troublesome questions.
“Merely hoping that Russia will return to treaty compliance is insufficient to the seriousness of this threat,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., committee chairman. “That’s why Russia’s violation of the INF Treaty is so significant because it calls into question basic assumptions about U.S. nuclear policy assumptions, we must be prepared to reevaluate given the new realities of our strategic environment.”
Hyten said the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin talks openly about threatening the use of nuclear weapons as a way to de-escalate conflict is in itself destabilizing.
But the four-star commander also said it appears Moscow is adhering to the New START treaty, wich calls for both sides to be limited to 1,550 deployed warheads and 700 deployed delivery systems by February 2018.
“We’re on track to do that, as far as we can tell the Russians are on track to do that. With that 2018 date — early 2018, we’ll watch that very closely,” Hyten said, adding “from a strategic weapons perspective, I support the limits that are in the New START treaty.”
During his Senate testimony, Hyten stressed the importance of fully funding America’s ambitious but expensive program to rebuild or replace all three legs of the nuclear triad: ballistic missile submarines, long-range bombers armed with stand-off cruise missiles, and land-based ICBMs.
“I believe that the United States has only effectively dealt with Russia over the years from a position of strength,” Hyten said. “I think the only way we can deal with them in the future is from a position of strength.”
