The Kremlin has issued a decree suspending Russia’s participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty (CFE). The link is to the Russian, and the English should be up shortly at www.kremlin.ru. From Reuters:
The decree suspended Russia’s role in the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) pact, adopted in 1990 to limit the number of tanks, heavy artillery and combat aircraft deployed and stored between the Atlantic and Russia’s Ural mountains.
Russia has accused the West of failing to ratify an amended version signed in 1999 to take into account the new post-Cold War situation. Talks last month with NATO states ended without progress.
A NATO spokesman said on Saturday of the Russian suspension: “If this is confirmed the Secretary General very much regrets this decision. The allies consider this treaty to be an important cornerstone of European security.”
A major source of friction is NATO’s insistence on preserving “flanking arrangements” which ban large concentrations of forces and materiel near some borders.
Russia objects to that provision because it limits Russian troop movements within Russian territory although Moscow says its border areas have become more unstable since the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.
More updates soon.