Andrei Stratan: Moldova will further insist on withdrawal of Russian troops

Moldova will further insist that the Russian Federation honour the Istanbul commitments and withdraw the troops and ammunition from its territory, said Moldova’s Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan when asked to comment on the Russian Duma’s decision to pull out of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. Stratan stated that the Moldovan authorities will continue the bilateral and multilateral discussions on this issue with its international partners. Furthermore, the subject will be brought before the OSCE Summit, to take place in Madrid at the end of this year. Moldova will express its regret about this decision and voice hope for a potential solution for the problem, the Moldovan head of diplomacy said. Moldova wants nothing more but to keep its constitutional provisions unharmed and truly become a sovereign and independent state, without foreign military presence on its soil, Andrei Stratan concluded. The Russian Duma yesterday voted unanimously for Russia’s pullout of CFE Treaty, backing a presidential decree signed by Vladimir Putin earlier this year. The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty), signed in 1990, by the 22 members of NATO and the former Warsaw Pact, is a landmark arms control agreement that established parity in major conventional forces between East and West. Following the demise of the Warsaw Pact and the enlargement of NATO in the 1990s, the CFE States Parties signed the Adaptation Agreement in 1999, to amend the CFE Treaty to take account of the evolving European geo-strategic environment. Ratification by NATO Allies of the Adapted Treaty is awaiting Russia's compliance with adapted CFE flank provisions and continued fulfilment of its Istanbul summit commitments regarding withdrawals of Russian forces from Georgia and Moldova