BRUSSELS: The EU’s top diplomat Federica Mogherini said Tuesday she was “extremely worried” about the fate of a major US-Russia nuclear missile control treaty, warning the security of Europe could be at risk.
Last month, Washington announced it was pulling out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) over Russia’s deployment of a missile system that Western powers say breaches the 1987 accord.
The Kremlin has fired off warnings of a new arms race, and as she convened a meeting of EU defense ministers Mogherini expressed concern, calling for talks to maintain the agreement.
“If we go toward the dismantling of this agreement, Europe’s security is to be put at risk and we do not want to see European territory go back to being a battlefield for other powers as it has been for so long in the past,” she told reporters.
“We don’t want to go back to those kind of tensions, to that kind of situation and we still hope there is a space for saving the agreement and implementing it,” she said.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration has signalled it will withdraw from the treaty, it has not taken steps to put the decision into practice.
The INF treaty, signed by then US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, ended a nuclear build-up in Europe triggered by Moscow’s deployment of SS-20 missiles targeting Western European capitals.
The US and NATO say Russia’s 9M729 missile system, also known by the designation SSC-8, breaches the treaty, which prohibits ground-launched missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.
Washington says repeated attempts to persuade Russia to come back into compliance since 2013 have been met with silence or obfuscation.
Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the INF treaty during a brief conversation at World War I centenary events in Paris last week.
EU ‘extremely worried’ about fate of nuclear treaty
EU ‘extremely worried’ about fate of nuclear treaty
- Last month, Washington announced it was pulling out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF)
- The treaty ended a nuclear build-up in Europe triggered by Moscow’s deployment of SS-20 missiles targeting Western European capitals
At least three dead as migrant boat capsizes off Greek island
- An accident occurred when the vessel approached the migrants’ wooden boat
- The search for survivors was continuing with four patrol boats
ATHENS: The bodies of three migrants were picked up in waters off the Greek island of Crete during a rescue effort involving a commercial ship, authorities said Friday.
Twenty migrants were rescued by the commercial vessel which was directed to the area on the orders of the Greek Search and Rescue Center.
According to Greek public broadcaster ERT, an accident occurred when the vessel approached the migrants’ wooden boat. As the passengers tried to climb up ladders into the vessel a sudden movement caused the small boat to capsize.
The search for survivors was continuing with four patrol boats, an aircraft, and two ships from the European border agency Frontex, a spokesperson for the Greek coast guard told AFP.
According to ERT, survivors said about 50 people were aboard the wooden boat.
A second boat carrying around forty migrants was spotted in the area, triggering another rescue operation.
For over a year, migrants have been attempting the perilous crossing from Libya to Crete, the gateway to the European Union.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 16,770 people seeking asylum in the EU arrived in Crete in 2025.
Faced with the surge in arrivals, the conservative Greek government suspended the processing of asylum applications for three months last summer, particularly for those arriving from Libya.
UNHCR says 107 people died or went missing in Greek waters in 2025.
