Russia Warns UNGA Vote on INF Treaty Resolution New Blow to Global Security

"Results of the UN General Assembly voting on the Russia-drafted resolution, co-authored by ten more countries, cannot but disappoint. [The resolution] lacked a few votes so that the arithmetic majority of the nations could unambiguously and without any invented excuses express their support to viability of this treaty through activation of a detailed and constructive dialogue by the sides, taking into account the existing mutual concerns," the statement read, TASS reported.

"Thus, the architecture of the world’s security and stability took a new blow. Henceforth, after having the INF Treaty dismantled, the world’s several regions might be plunged simultaneously into an arms race, or even in a direct confrontation," the foreign ministry added.

According to the ministry, in order to pass the draft by two thirds of the vote, it would have been required "that a sufficient number of US allies and closest partners demonstrated independence in international affairs and, despite Washington’s toughest pressure, showed a responsible attitude to preserving the system of arms control mechanisms, which have cracked because of the US".

Those countries, mostly NATO members, acted as opponents of the INF Treaty, regardless of their assurances of the treaty’s significance, the statement noted.

Nonetheless, Moscow thanked the nations that backed Russia’s efforts at the UN and "thus gave a convincing signal about urgency" of the INF Treaty.

On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly voted down the resolution in support of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Forty-three nations voted for the document, forty-six were against and another seventy-eight abstained.

Among those who voted against the resolution were the United States, the European Union nations, Japan, Turkey, Israel and Ukraine. The document was supported by China, member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Iran, Syria and a number of Latin American countries.

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