https://www.defensenews.com/global/e...kes-in-europe/
NATO members set to say they won’t deploy land-based nukes in Europe
WASHINGTON ―
NATO allies are poised to formally oppose the alliance deploying ground-based nuclear missiles in Europe, following U.S. President Joe Biden’s meeting with fellow heads of state set for June 14 in Brussels, Defense News has learned.
The position, which echoes past remarks from
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, is set out in a draft communiqué for release after the NATO summit, according to one U.S. Senate aide and one European official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the closely held document.
The move is seen as possible way to ease tensions with Moscow and to tee up an arms control dialogue ahead of the
U.S.-Russia summit in Geneva on June 16.
The NATO discussions come amid news Moscow will again propose a moratorium on the deployment of land-based intermediate- and shorter-range missiles, reported by Russian state media this week. NATO and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The issue has been an open question since
Russia deployed land-based SSC-8 missiles, which the U.S. said violated the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. That in turn prompted then-President Donald Trump’s 2019
withdrawal from the INF Treaty. (Russia has claimed the U.S. violated the treaty, which U.S. officials denied.)
NATO’s deployment of new land-based missiles in Europe is theoretical. Stoltenberg first said last year, after a meeting of the alliance’s Nuclear Planning Group, that there were no plans to do so, though he noted that some allies planned to acquire new air and missile defense systems.
After the Trump administration and NATO dismissed Russia’s proposed moratorium in 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron urged reconsideration of the moratorium.
Biden, whose approval is needed for the communiqué, would likely receive praise from
arms control advocates but blowback from
hawkish nuclear weapons advocates in Congress, should the ban on ground-based nuclear missiles in Europe become official.
Tim Morrison, who oversaw the nuclear portfolio on Trump’s National Security Council and is now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said the last administration rejected Russia’s moratorium offer because it considered the country a dishonest partner on arms control. Morrison believes that sacrificing the option to field the weapons in Europe would deny the U.S. bargaining power at the upcoming Geneva summit.
“If this is a unilateral concession to Russia, that’s a terrible idea; and if it’s a bilateral concession, that’s not much better because you can’t trust Russia,” he said. “Why would we take an option off the table we may need in the future to respond to belligerent actions by Russia?”