The United States, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine will end on May 31, 2001 the mutual inspection activities that have lasted for 13 years to check compliance with the treaty on elimination of medium and shorter range missiles.
Officials of defense agencies and verification centers of Kazakhstan and the United States and heads of the Russian, Belarussian and Ukrainian diplomatic missions declared on Wednesday that the inspections have ended.
The United States and the USSR signed the treaty in 1987. Following the break up of the USSR, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine became its successors in implementing the treaty.
Since the time it was signed, 1,846 missiles have been eliminated in the former Soviet republics and 846 in the United States. Following the dismantling of the last missile covered by the treaty in 1991, the signatory countries continued mutual inspection.
The treaty does not allow the signatories to own or manufacture medium and shorter range missiles any time. It applies to land-based ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.
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