Moscow - Russia on Wednesday suspended participation in a
key Cold War treaty limiting armed forces in Europe amid mounting
East-West security tensions.
Russia has suspended all activities towards observing the treaty
on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) since midnight on
December 12, The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
'This step has been prompted by exceptional circumstances related
to the CFE's contents, which concern Russia's security and require
urgent measures,' the ministry said.
The treaty was a vital part of Cold War arms-restraint agreements
signed between 16 NATO members and six former Warsaw Pact nations in
1990, but Russia is the only state to have signed an amended draft of
the document since the strategic upheaval accompanying the fall of
the Soviet Union.
In a statement issued by NATO's headquarters in Brussels, the
western military alliance expressed 'deep regret' over Russia's
decision to unilaterally 'suspend' implementation of its CFE
obligations.
'This is particularly disappointing because ... (NATO) allies have
worked intensively with other Treaty partners over the past months to
try to resolve the Russian Federation's concerns constructively,'
NATO said.
NATO reaffirmed its right to 'take any steps provided for by the
treaty and international law,' and at the same time insisted that it
still wanted to 'resolve the current impasse and preserve the
benefits' of the treaty.
European officials pressed Russia not to abstain from the treaty,
saying it could lead to a disintegration of the network of Cold War
security treaties and a new arms race.
But Moscow bucks at the 'farfetched conditions' tied to Europe's
ratification of the treaty, angry at NATO's demand it withdraw troops
from breakaway regions in the former Soviet states of Georgia and
Moldova.
Analysts said the suspension of the treaty Wednesday was pushed
through by top Russian military brass resentful of NATO troop
inspections, who lobbied President Vladimir Putin directly.
The suspension of the treaty is not a goal in itself but 'a method
in the Russian Federation's drive for restoring the viability of
control over conventional weapons in Europe,' the foreign ministry
said.
The ministry's statement listed the so-called 'Istanbul
commitment,' requiring the pullback of Russian troops from its former
sphere of influence, as its main grievance with the CFE treaty.
The moratorium Wednesday highlighted worsening East-West relations
one day before top US and Russian diplomats are to meet in Budapest
over US missile defence plans that Duma deputy speaker Lubov Slitska
earlier called a 'poisonous affront to Russia's security.'
Independent military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said the main
thrust against the treaty had come from the Russian military who have
long resented the limits it imposed on flank deployments viewing
NATO's encroachment eastward as a security menace.
'The Russian military have always disliked this treaty. They see
the inspection regimes as a from of western 'espionage' to know what
is where,' Felenghauer told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
He cited Russian military sources who said that the broader-
ranging Open Skies treaty, allowing unarmed observation flights,
among other arms restraint treaties regulating the stretch from the
Atlantic to Russia's Ural mountains were in danger of Russian
recusal.
Russian army chief of General Staff Yury Baluyevsky said last
month that Russia was ready to negotiate, but would not be bothered
if the treaty 'altogether disappeared.'
The Spanish presidency of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Wednesday urged Russia to reconsider
its decision to suspend the treaty.
Russia's abandoning the treaty 'could have security implications
for all of Europe,' Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos
cautioned, urging the parties to resume negotiations 'with renewed
effort.'
Russia's withdrawal is a 'serious blow for Europe,' said
Felgenhauer.
'It means the 'de-transparency' of a regime which gave Europe an
independent way of sourcing information that only the Americans now
have the capacity to gather.'
A high-ranking Russian defence official said that Russia had no
immediate plans to redeploy troops along its Western front, but added
that such plans could develop if the moratorium failed to have an
affect, news agency Interfax reported.
Analysts predicted there was little chance of saving the treaty
given Russia's long list of remonstrances to be discussed among the
30 nations implicated in the agreement.
'The treaty is dead,' Felgenhauer said.
He added that it was quite likely that Russia would move to
repopulate empty bases in the Leningrad region bordering the Baltic
states.
'Redeploying troops from Siberia westward makes sense in economic
terms and would send a powerful message to the west, making it win-
win,' he said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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