Russia formally withdraws from post-Cold War Armed Forces treaty

2023-11-07 18:04:06

Russia on Tuesday formally withdrew from a historic security treaty that limited important categories of conventional armed forces, blaming the United States for undermining post-Cold War security with the expansion of the NATO military alliance.

The 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), signed a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, imposed verifiable limits on the categories of conventional military equipment that NATO and the then-Warsaw Pact could deploy.

The treaty was created to prevent either Cold War side from building up forces for a rapid offensive against the other in Europe, but it was unpopular in Moscow as it reduced the Soviet Union’s advantage in conventional weapons.

Russia suspended its participation in the treaty in 2007 and stopped its active participation in 2015. More than a year after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin in May signed a decree condemning the pact.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Russia had formally withdrawn from the pact at midnight – and that the treaty was now “history”.

“The CFE Treaty was concluded at the end of the Cold War, when the formation of a new global and European security architecture based on cooperation seemed possible, and appropriate attempts were made,” the ministry said.

Russia said US pressure for NATO enlargement had led the alliance’s countries to “openly circumvent” the treaty’s group restrictions, and added that Finland’s admission to NATO and Sweden’s candidacy meant the treaty was dead. .

“Even the formal preservation of the CFE Treaty has become unacceptable from the point of view of Russia’s fundamental security interests,” the ministry said, noting that the United States and its allies have not ratified the updated 1999 CFE.

NATO allies on Tuesday condemned Russia’s decision, adding that as a consequence they intended to suspend the operation of the treaty for as long as necessary.