Moscow - Russia is to suspend its participation in the
treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) from December 12,
it was confirmed Tuesday.
'From December 12, Russia will declare a moratorium on the
continued participation in the (CFE) treaty,' state Duma deputy
speaker Lubov Sliska was quoted by news agency Interfax as telling a
group of visiting EU representatives.
'Experience shows us that nobody but Russia has need of this
accord,' she added.
Russia has repeatedly stressed its desire to revive and modernize
the Soviet nuclear arms control treaty, urging NATO member states to
ratify a revised contract.
NATO, however, has irked Russia by setting the withdrawal of
Russian peacekeeping forces from Georgia as a precondition for
revising the accord.
Russia had previously threatened to withdraw from the treaty ahead
of Russian-US ministerial talks in Moscow last week.
The talks, between the two countries' foreign and defence
ministers, were held to address Russian concerns over US plans for a
missile defence system in Eastern Europe.
Slitska told the EU deputies that the missile defence system was
'the greatest issue of concern' for Russia, Interfax reported.
She recommended that each European country's parliament closely
study the question, underlining that the proposed early warning
system in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland would
not protect Italy, Portugal and Greece from an Iranian threat.
Russia sees the planned missile system as a menace to its
security, while the US wants it to protect from nuclear and missile
threats from 'rogue' states such as Iran.
Russia would like to involve Europeans, who are not enthusiastic
about the missile defence system, in objecting to the plan, Fydor
Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of journal Russian in Global Affairs said
in an interview last week.
Russia's plan will be difficult to carry out, however, because the
closer the project moves to a mediated and international solution,
the easier it will be for Europeans to accept, he said.
President Vladimir Putin at last week's Moscow summit urged US
officials to make the system more 'global' or freeze the missile
defence plans.
With regard to the CFE treaty, Slitska said: 'Russia will always
insist that its views are considered and that its opinion is taken
into account, particularly when dealing with questions of defence.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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