It seems that the world nuclear powers are trying to test their limits and how the new Trump administration will react. After North Korea tested their missiles, it’s Russia’s turn as they deployed a missile last week. This is a violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (I.N.F. Treaty) signed by President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev. This treaty bans American and Russian intermediate-range land missiles. This is not the first time Russia has violated this treaty because it realized this treaty does not work for them. Russia tested a ground missile before in 2014 during the Obama administration, which “sought to persuade” Russia to “correct” their violation of the treaty. While this treaty is technically a bilateral treaty with the former Soviet Union, it is more of a multilateral treaty because it includes the former Soviet bloc countries. Russia’s defense for their actions is that almost all of their neighbors are also developing weapons.
“Jon Wolfsthal, who served as a nuclear weapons expert on the National Security Council during the Obama administration, said the United States, its NATO allies, Japan and South Korea needed to work together to put pressure on Russia to correct the violation.” For the record, the Trump administration has nothing to say other than, “We have made very clear our concerns about Russia’s violation, the risks it poses to European and Asian security, and our strong interest in returning Russia to compliance with the treaty.”
When it comes to big powers, China, United States, and Russia, when the international communities just issue strong warnings and tell them they did something wrong, they shrugged it off and ignore and continues their activities. Who is able to enforce the I.N.F. treaty? Not the UN because the United States and Russia both sit on the Security Council. NATO? What can NATO do? Bring Russia to an international court for them to ignore the judgement as China did with the South China Sea? Definitely, with North Korea just showing off their weapons, Russia will not cease their missile testing anytime soon.
