The core of the U.S. negotiating position reflected the principles set out under Carter: any limitation of the U.S. INF`s capabilities, both in terms of «caps» and «rights,» must be accompanied by restrictions on Soviet systems. In addition, the United States insisted that a sufficient verification system be put in place. [26] In February, the Russian government declared that the US tests of the Hera missile for the development of the missile defense system had violated the provisions of the INF Treaty. He noted that Moscow had scrapped its SS-23 missile with a similar range to the pressing demand of the United States. The Hera was built with the second and third stages of the Minuteman II rocket (with some modifications) and, according to some sources, lead components of the Pershing rocket, which was eliminated under the INF Treaty. The maximum range of the missile is about 1,000 km. Nitze was also a member of the Committee on the Current Danger, a staunchly anti-Soviet group of neoconservatives and conservative Republicans. [20] [27] Yuli Kvitsinsky, the respected secondary official at the Soviet embassy in West Germany, led the Soviet delegation. [19] [28] [29] [30] Subsequently, there was controversy in the Soviet Union over the inclusion of the SS-23 («Oka») missile in the INF Treaty.
According to the Soviet view, the SS-23 had never been tested up to a range of 500 km and was included at the insistence of the United States (the list of existing missiles covered by the treaty was separate from the INF definition). The Treaty provides for data exchange and notification through nuclear risk reduction centres.
