Ukraine in Arabic | The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces is no longer relevant, Russia says
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe is long since dead and will not be renewed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting of the collegiums of the Russian and Belarussian Ministries of Foreign Affairs in Minsk on Tuesday.
“Today the United States and its allies have significantly advanced towards creating a global missile defense system. The situation in the sphere of control over conventional arms is not much better,” Lavrov said.
Russia has repeatedly called for “equal security based on the balance of interests,” Lavrov stressed.
“We have been urged to resume the so-called CFE treaty implementation,” Lavrov said. “It is long-defunct and is not subject to reanimation,” the minister added.
Moscow is not planning to simply observe negative tendencies undermining the strategic stability in the Euro-Atlantic region, Russian Foreign Minister said.
Lavrov attended a joint session of collegiums of Russian and Belarusian foreign ministries, during which the sides discussed the US plans to create a global missile defense system, including its European component, and also conventional arms in Europe.
“Here we will not simply observe the negative tendencies which undermine the strategic stability in the Euro-Atlantic, and we will be consistently without confrontation work with Western partners to search for solutions which reflect the balance of interests of all the countries of our important region,” Lavrov said.
The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was signed on December 19, 1990, in Paris by the then 16 NATO members and the then six Warsaw Pact states. The treaty sets a ceiling on the conventional weapons and military equipment that can be held by one country. The 1999 Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty has only been ratified by Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
On December 12, 2007, Russia imposed a moratorium on the CFE treaty on the grounds that the adapted CFE treaty had not been ratified by NATO members. Under the moratorium, Russia refuses to provide information to other treaty parties, to host and to carry out inspections, and to put limits on its conventional forces.