Should the US abandon the INF missile treaty over Russia?

Three House lawmakers proposed a resolution Tuesday that says Russia is violating a 1987 agreement with the United States to abandon the use of intermediate-range missiles, and says the U.S. should consider leaving the treaty if Russia fails to adhere to it.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) introduced the treaty along with Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) and Denny Heck (D-Wash.).

{mosads}In January, U.S. officials said they believe Russia’s testing of ground-based cruise missiles violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. But members of the House have sent letters to the administration for the last few years arguing that Russia is in violation.

The House resolution, H.Con.Res. 94, does not point out any specific violation, but based on past congressional complaints, it finds that Russia is in “material breach” of the INF treaty.

It goes further by saying the president should consider whether it’s in the security interests of the United States to “unilaterally” remain a party to the treaty if Russia is “still in material breach of such Treaty” one year after the resolution is adopted.

It says the president should hold Russia “accountable” for its violation, and should “demand the Russian Federation completely and verifiably eliminate the military systems that constitute the material breach.”

It also says the president “should not engage in further reductions of United States forces generally” and should cease further arms reduction talks until Russia complies with the treaty.

The issue of Russia’s missile policy came up in a Tuesday hearing of a House Armed Services subcommittee. In that hearing, Rogers said the Obama administration’s budget for missile defense systems is not enough, and that missile defense “has been at the center of this administration’s catastrophic failure known as the Reset with Russia.”