Moscow requests the re-examination of CFE treaty

Russia called for an emergency conference to determine the extent to which the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty is still valid. According to the Romanian media, Russia approached the Netherlands, the depositary of the treaty, with a request to call an emergency conference on June 12-15 in Vienna. Last month, President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia could quit the CFE treaty, which sets the limits on the quantity of conventional armaments that a European country can maintain. The Russian officials argue that the “installation of heavy weapons” in the Czech Republic and Poland (the American missile interceptor shield) and military bases in Romania and Bulgaria, the West begins a new arms race. At a diplomatic level, Russia insists that these are the reasons why the CFE treaty is obsolete. Moscow accuses NATO members, including Slovenia and the Baltic countries, that they haven’t signed the document, while some of the signer countries haven’t ratified it (the only ones that ratified it are Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan). Moreover, the recent version of the treaty (CFE II) was signed in 1999, by the forerunner of Vladimir Putin, Boris Eltin. The treaty allowed the expansion of NATO towards the former members of the Warsaw Pact. The international media writes that, in such a way, Moscow sets up a diplomatic offensive to mitigate the accusations from the Occident that it not respected the commitments that it assumed at Istanbul in 1999 – to retreat its troops from Transnistria. The countries that haven’t signed the treaty yet say that this will happen when Russia withdraws its troops from Georgia and Transnistria. According to Russia’s Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov, the link between the two matters is “absurd” and it “transformed the policy of arms control in Europe into a mechanism of accomplishing political objectives that have nothing to do with the European security”. According to the Russian media, Russia needs a buffer territory, and this could be Moldova. That is why the problem of Transnistria is negotiated secretly by President Vladimir Voronin with a high-ranking official from Russia, the Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Iuri Zubacov. The solution negotiated by the two parties outside the multilateral format 5+2 is to create a Moldovan-Transnistrian state, in which Transnistria would have a “special status” that will be determined by Moscow. The indignation of the Transnistrian authorities and the hurry of Moscow to refuse any unification scheme with the separatist territory confirm the European Union’s fears that it will witness an already achieved fact, as the European diplomats announced at the last week summit in the Czech Republic. Vladimir Voronin has clearly stated that the Transnistrian problem will be solved in the nearest future (Vladimir Putin’s term in office will expire in 2008, and Vladimir Vronin’s tenure in 2009). Russia would recognise Moldova’s independence and would retreat its troops from Moldova’s territory, if Moldova assures the fact that it would not join any military bloc. President Voronin confirmed this several days ago, by saying that he will not admit “any military presence, of no colour or uniform on our territory”.