US and Russia urge nuclear ban

Last Modified: 28 Oct 2007
By: Channel 4 News

Former cold war foes Russia and the US have published a joint declaration calling on all countries to destroy medium-range nuclear-capable missiles.

The proposals are a widening of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) - that was signed by leaders Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan in 1987. At present it covers only ex-Soviet states, Russia and the US.

The statement - released by Moscow - called on "all interested countries to discuss the possibility of imparting a global character to this important regime through the renunciation of ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500km, leading to the destruction of any such missiles".

Other countries like Israel, India and Pakistan have started building arsenals of intermediate-range missiles

President Vladimir Putin told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier this month that Russia would find it difficult to stay in the INF unless it was expanded to include other countries' armaments.

It is hoped that plans to widen the treaty's reach will help tackle the perceived threat of states such as Iran and North Korea. Besides these US enemies, other countries like Israel, India and Pakistan have started building arsenals of intermediate-range missiles. Although some possess nuclear weapons, none of them is constrained by the INF treaty.

When it was originally signed, the INF marked a milestone in arms control, which lead to the scrapping of 2,692 missiles.