Sec. 215. Strategy for cooperation on intermediate-range missile launchers and systems to NATO allies
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/bill/117/hr/6367/ih/section-215·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds the following: All NATO allies agree that the SSC-8/9M729 missile system developed and deployed by the Government of Russia violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (in this section referred to as the INF Treaty ), while posing a significant risk to NATO security. Despite NATO allies’ repeated calls on the Government of Russia to return to full and verifiable compliance with the INF Treaty, Russia continued to develop and deploy INF Treaty-violating systems, which led to the INF Treaty’s demise on August 2, 2019.
As of the INF Treaty’s demise, Russia had produced and deployed multiple battalions of INF Treaty-violating missiles, capable of reaching key European capitals and targets. A mutual deployment moratorium in the European theater with the Russian Federation is not in the interest of the United States. Even if a European-Theater intermediate-range ground-launched missile deployment moratorium were verifiable, any such moratorium would significantly advantage Russia and disadvantage NATO.
This is due to the Russian Federation’s continual threats of aggression against sovereign European nations, the relative ease by which Russia could deploy such systems to the theater, and the logistical impediments with which the United States and NATO would have to contend should it be determined a commensurate response was warranted. Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State shall jointly develop a strategy to cooperate with willing NATO member countries in the joint research, development, training and possible transfer of conventional intermediate-range ground-launched missiles, associated launchers and support equipment, and associated technology.