Russia takes last step to suspend CFE Treaty

The upper house of Russia's parliament, the Federation Council, on Friday, November 16, voted unanimously to suspend the CFE Treaty that limits troops and conventional weapons in Europe. The Federation Council vote came a week after a similar vote by the lower house, the State Duma. The suspension is to take effect December 12. A decree suspending the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this year, due to "exceptional circumstances affecting the security of the Russian Federation and requiring immediate action". Later, representatives of NATO countries condemned Kremlin's move. Commenting on the pullout, Chisinau-based political analyst Andrei Popov has told Info-Prim Neo that, by acting so, Russia flexed its muscles to show the West that it is determined to regain the positions lost by the Kremlin in the 90s. According to him, the decision is part of Russia’s foreign policy promoted during the last years and is designed to strengthen the positions of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the talks with the West over the ratification of the Adapted Treaty. 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