Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 58, June 2001

News Review

INF Treaty Inspection Regime Successfully Concluded

May 31 saw the successful termination of the inspection regime for the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed by Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev in 1987. The treaty, in the words of a May 17 US State Department Fact Sheet, "eliminated [by May 31, 1991] an entire class of ground-launched intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles [500-5,500 kilometres] and their launchers and prohibits possession of such systems thereafter." The agreement further "prohibits any party from producing or flight-testing any intermediate-range or shorter-range missile, the stages of such missiles, or launchers for such missiles. The prohibitions are of indefinite duration, and apply to the US and to all 12 successor states to the FSU [former Soviet Union]." As the Fact Sheet itemises, under the terms of the treaty "the US eliminated 2,332 treaty-limited items, and the former Soviet Union eliminated 5,439 treaty-limited items. These included, for the US, 846 missiles and 289 launchers. For the FSU, 1,846 missiles and 825 launchers..."

As Ambassador Stephen Steiner, US representative on the treaty's Special Verification Commission (SVC), noted at a ceremony in Moscow on May 21, the inspection regime built into the accord set new standards of thoroughness and transparency: "This Treaty made history... [I]t brought about a new standard of openness by creating a 13-year on-site verification regime of unparalleled intrusiveness, including several types of short-notice inspections and around-the-clock monitoring at missile assembly facilities." During the 1988-2001 span of the treaty's full implementation - during which the SVC met 23 times - 1,391 inspections were conducted: 851 by the US at 133 FSU facilities, 540 by Russia at 31 US facilities.

According to a June 1 statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry: "The work on the INF Treaty and its successful implementation has served as unprecedented valuable experience, which is widely used in preparing many other international agreements. From the very beginning, this treaty was based upon and carried out as an integral, fundamental part of the 'architecture of strategic stability,' based on cornerstone agreements on nuclear arms and anti-missile defences."

Reports: Fact Sheet - State Department on 1987 INF Missile Treaty, Washington File, May 17; Text - US envoy welcomes conclusion of INF Treaty inspections, Washington File, May 21; Russia hails missile elimination, Associated Press, June 1.