Chapter 6 - INF Elimination Inspections

Speaking for the Soviet Union, General Medvedev predicted that the next major arms control treaty--the START Treaty, then in the final negotiating stages--would build upon the precedents established under the INF Treaty. "The tracks are already made," he concluded.¹⁷General Parker, the OSIA director, focused his remarks on the work of the on-site inspectors:

"Nearly three years ago, on the first of July 1988, the first U.S. inspectors landed in Moscow to begin the implementation of this treaty. Sixteen days later a group of Soviet inspectors arrived here at Longhorn, Texas to conduct a baseline inventory of Pershing treaty-limited items. . . .

For the past 35 months, this process of inspector visits to sites halfway around the world has repeated itself over 600 times. Twenty-nine teams of Soviet inspectors came to Marshall, Texas, primarily to participate intimately in the INF countdown, to attest to their government that indeed the United States was eliminating these missile systems as promised.... Please remember that what we are witnessing is not just the passing of this noble weapon system, but also an important milestone in an historic agreement between the two most powerful nations on earth."¹⁸

The Soviet Union's INF Treaty eliminations began at Kapustin Yar Missile Test Complex on July 22, 1988, with the elimination of an SS-20 missile.¹⁹ Less than 10 days later, on August 1, the Soviets destroyed their first SS-12s at Saryozek.²⁰ In contrast to the United States, which used a static firing method, the Soviet Union eliminated the INF missiles at Kapustin Yar and Saryozek by explosion. By the end of the baseline inspection period on August 31, the Soviet government had begun eliminations at seven of its eight designated sites.²¹ The reason for this concentrated activity had to do with the larger number of missiles the Soviet Union had to eliminate. Not only were they obligated by the treaty to destroy 1,000 more missiles than the United States (1,846 to 846), but they had to eliminate more than 900 shorter-range missiles within the first 18 months. At the Soviet elimination sites--Kansk, Chita, Kapustin Yar, Saryozek, Lesnaya, Stan'kovo, Sarny, and Jelgava--they destroyed the following missiles during the first two treaty years. U.S. on-site inspectors observed each elimination.

Major General Robert W. Parker, Director, On-Site Inspection Agency.

	MOU Totals	1988-1989 Eliminated	1989-1990 Eliminated (cumulative)	1990-1991 Eliminated (cumulative)
Intermediate-range INF missiles
SS-20	654	192	454	654
SS-4	149	149	149	149
SS-5	6	1	6	6
SSC-X-4	80	80	80	80
Shorter-range INF missiles
SS-23	239	0	239	239
SS-12	718	600	718	718

American and Soviet teams at the last elimination of SS-4s at Lesnaya Elimination Facility, USSR, in May 1990.

The On-Site Inspection Agency sent 129 inspection teams to the Soviet Union to verify these eliminations from 1988 through 1991. They observed and recorded the destruction according to the treaty's protocols on eliminations. The pace was steady, with nearly continuous eliminations scheduled by Soviet officials during the first two years. Both of the Soviet shorter-range INF missile systems--the SS-23s and SS-12s with ranges from 500 to 1,000 kilometers--were eliminated in advance of the 18-month treaty deadline of November 30, 1989. On July 25, 1989, the last of 718 SS-12 missiles was destroyed at Saryozek, Kazakhstan.²³ The OSIA team of nine inspectors that observed this final destruction was led by Lt. Colonel Terry Corneil, U.S. Army. The final parts of the SS-23 missile system, the missiles and the launchers, were eliminated on October 27, 1989, at separate Soviet elimination sites. The final SS-23 launchers were eliminated at Stan'kovo, Byelorussia, with Lt. Colonel Thomas Brock, U.S. Army, leading the 10-person inspection team. The final SS-23 missile was destroyed at Saryozek, Kazakhstan, with Captain John Williams, U.S. Navy, serving as the chief of the American inspection team.²⁴

As the treaty entered its third year, the Soviet Union had eliminated all of its shorter-range and most of its intermediate-range missiles, with the exception of the three-warhead, mobile SS-20 missile. The last of 6 SS-5 missiles had been destroyed on August 16, 1989, at the Lesnaya elimination site, and the last of 149 SS-4 missiles on May 22, 1990, also at Lesnaya.²⁵One remaining SS-4 missile transporter vehicle was eliminated in October 1990. With only the SS-20 missiles remaining, six of the eight Soviet elimination sites were shut down. The remaining two, Sarny and Kapustin Yar, functioned as elimination sites for the SS-20s.

Major General Robert W. Parker, Director OSIA (c.) and Colonel Lawrence G. Kelley (r.) with a Soviet military journalist and a site escort officer at Kapustin Yar in May 1991.

The last SS-20 missile elimination occurred at Kapustin Yar Missile Test Complex in southern USSR on May 12, 1991. The United States sent 20 of its most experienced inspectors, including OSIA Director General Parker; Colonel Douglas Englund, chief of staff; Colonel Ronald Forest, director of operations; and Captain John Williams, chief of the Inspection Division. Captain Williams led the team. General Medvedev represented the Soviet Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, which had conducted all of the INF inspections and escorts for the USSR. Accompanying General Medvedev and his senior staff was General Colonel Alexander P. Volkov, First Deputy Commander in Chief of the Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces.²⁶

At Kapustin Yar, the Soviet demolition crew began the final elimination by crushing two SS-20 front sections, including the instrumentation compartments and reentry vehicles. At approximately four o'clock in the afternoon, they detonated the final two SS-20 missiles before the small crowd of American inspectors, Soviet escorts, Soviet military observers, journalists, and television reporters. At the brief ceremony that followed, General Parker recounted that in the course of the previous three years, U.S. inspectors had carried out more than 400 on-site inspections of Soviet INF sites and missile systems, while the Soviets had conducted more than 230 inspections of U.S. facilities and missile systems. General Medvedev also complimented the inspectors and escorts, as well as the Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces, on their implementation of the INF Treaty. "This road was not easy," Mevedev recalled. "We all remember what a political maelstrom existed around these missiles. . .in the 1980s. But the struggle for peace and common sense won." ²⁷

With the destruction of these SS-20 missiles, there remained only the elimination of SS-20 launchers and missile transporter vehicles to complete the Soviet Union's obligation to eliminate its 1,846 INF missiles and systems. That occurred at Sarny on May 28, 1991. Lt. Colonel Corneil, the American team chief, signed the INF inspection report certifying that the last launchers and vehicles had been eliminated.

		Summing Up
The Soviet Union declared 654 SS-20 missiles. These two instrument compartments and warhead sections were destroyed on May 13, 1991, at Kapustin Yar, USSR, in the presence of American INF inspectors.		For both the United States and the Soviet Union, the conduct of the INF Treaty eliminations constituted deployment of the largest number of inspectors and escorts. In the first three treaty years, 129 OSIA on-site inspection teams and 64 OSIA escort teams participated in elimination inspections. Counting all types of inspections, the OSIA teams were involved in more than 600 inspections and escorts in the three treaty years from 1988 to 1991. In carrying out these inspections, the team chiefs, deputies, linguists, and team members validated the on-site inspection concepts and procedures associated with a detailed nuclear arms reduction treaty. Their experiences would be a valuable asset as the United States, the Soviet Union, and the European nations turned to newer and larger negotiated conventional and nuclear arms reduction treaties.