HC Deb 28 November 1990 vol 181 c444W
Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the inspections carried out by inspectors from the Soviet Union at RAF Greenham Common and RAF Molesworth under the intermediate nuclear forces treaty.

Mr. Archie Hamilton

The INF treaty includes a stringent, mandatory and effective verification regime, involving data exchanges, on-site inspection and unimpeded surveillance by national intelligence measures. The four elements of the verification regime that affect the United Kingdom are as follows:

  1. (a) initial "baseline" inspections, which took place in the first three months of the operation of the treaty, to verify the date exchanges;
  2. (b) short-notice inspections of declared missile operating bases and support facilities, with an annual quota of 20 such inspections for each side in the first three years;
  3. (c)"close-out" inspections of the operating bases and support facilities which have been decommissioned;
  4. (d) short-notice inspections of formerly declared sites for a period of 10 years after the elimination of the missiles.

To date, the Soviets have conducted eight INF inspections during five visits to the United Kingdom. The details are as follows:

  • 19–22 August 1988
    • "Baseline" inspections at RAF Greenham Common and RAF Molesworth.
  • 30 October —2 November 1988
    • Short notice inspection at Molesworth.
  • 18–20 January 1989
    • "Close-out" inspection at Molesworth, short notice inspection at Greenham Common.
  • 16–18 August 1989
    • Short notice inspection at Greenham Common.
  • 23–25 May 1990
    • Short notice inspections at both Greenham Common and Molesworth.

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