WhatFinger


Restrictions, inspections

Russia Suspends All Activity Related to Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE)



(Canada Free Press judt recieved this from Sean Osborne) I received this a short while ago from an anonymous source. Effective midnight Moscow time 12 DEC 07 Russia has suspended all activities and related documents pertaining to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE).

Support Canada Free Press


Russia Implements Moratorium on CFE Treaty

A Foreign Ministry statement posted on its website on 12 December said that from midnight Russia had suspended all activities and related documents pertaining to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). It said this meant that all inspections and associated regimes were now halted and that Russia henceforth will not be bound by restrictions, particularly flank restrictions. The statement said this step had been "prompted by exceptional circumstances," and was not an end in itself but "a means of endeavor by the Russian Federation to restore the viability of the conventional arms control regime in Europe." It added that, with political will from Russia's partners, the treaty could be restored "in quite a short time," and it went on to list a number of conditions for this to be achieved. The ministry said Russia was awaiting "a constructive response to these proposals," particularly from NATO (12 Dec). Despite the move, "the configuration of the Armed Forces will remain unchanged for the time being," the Russian military news agency AVN said, citing "a high-ranking military-diplomatic source in Moscow." (11 Dec) Nevertheless, in a further report the agency again cited "a high-ranking military-diplomatic source in Moscow" as saying that Russia "has de facto withdrawn from" the treaty by its recent deployment of two alpine brigades in the North Caucasus. This report went on to recall remarks made in November by Chief of the General Staff General Yuriy Baluyevskiy that flank restrictions imposed by the treaty were too restrictive and needed to be dropped. Baluyevskiy had also complained that the CFE was "a treaty that only Russia observed." (12 Dec) A former USSR Deputy Defense Minister, Colonel General Vladislav Achalov, advocated that Russia should "profit from the moratorium" by strengthening its forces in the west, to counter a potential "threat" from the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, since "our capital is naked in the Western direction." (AVN 12 Dec) Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking before the moratorium took effect, pointed to the apparent anomaly that NATO "possesses a huge amount of ground military hardware" which by its nature can only be used on its eastern front. In his view this shows that "the old CFE has lost its relevance," and moreover it hampers efforts to combat terrorism (AVN 10 Dec). The independent daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 10 December published a commentary by Deputy Chief Editor Vadim Solovyev under the sardonic title "Russian Love for Peace Undervalued", in which he posited that recent military actions taken by Russia "revive the erstwhile Soviet system of military confrontation throughout the world." He suggested that lack of progress with the West on various issues, including CFE, "is not at all disappointing." And he ended by pointing ominously to a recent international survey of countries rated for their love of peace, in which Russia was placed fourth from the bottom, above only Israel, Iran and Sudan.


View Comments

Sean Osborne -- Bio and Archives

Sean Osborne, is the Associate Director, Military Affairs, Northeast Intelligence Network.

Older Articles by Sean Osborne


Sponsored