Russia and the INF Treaty : an analysis of the factors driving its adherence to and withdrawal from the INF Treaty

Abstract

The following research attempts to answer the question “how has Russia (and the USSR prior to the 1991) navigated its membership in and termination of the INF treaty?” The case study in question is represented by the analysis of the concatenation of the events that occurred since the signing of the INF Treaty and resulted, in 2019, in Russia's official withdrawal from the Treaty itself. The military, political and economic conditions that played a crucial role in the events of the Treaty and which can provide the key to understanding Russia's behaviour will be analysed. The various factors under analysis retrace a historical path that began in the 1980s and continues to the present day. The events related to the INF Treaty are strictly connected to Russia's behaviour on the international stage. For this reason, rather than analysing the Treaty in its specific case, this research aims to analyse the framework that is part of a more complex dynamics. In the long historical path taken in analysis, it is clear that Russia (formerly USSR) has constantly protected its interests in maintaining the status of world power; first, as the leading nation of the socialist front which opposed the capitalist countries; then, in the role of an emerging nation in the group of capitalist countries, however unwilling to give way in terms of military, political and strategic importance on the world stage.