Russia's State Duma Annuls the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe

Today, the State Duma of Russia has adopted a law to annul the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty). This information is reported by the TASS agency.

“The final withdrawal from the CFE Treaty and its annulment fully correspond to the national interests of ensuring Russia's security,” said Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.

State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin stated that the lawmakers' decision to annul the treaty was guided by the interests of the Russian citizens. “Washington and Brussels, driven by the idea of building a unipolar world and advancing NATO eastward, have destroyed the global security system. The participants of the North Atlantic Alliance, who founded NATO in 1949, claimed that they were doing this exclusively for defensive purposes. In reality, the alliance is a wolf in sheep's clothing, having attacked and caused suffering to people, destroying states such as Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, and Syria,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.

The document was presented to the State Duma by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The CFE Treaty was signed in 1990 and adapted in 1997. NATO countries have not ratified the adapted version of this document, continuing to adhere to the provisions of 1990, which contain norms of conventional armaments based on a balance calculation between NATO and the Warsaw Pact Organization. As a result, Russia was forced to declare a moratorium on fulfilling the treaty's conditions in 2007.

On March 11, 2015, Russia ceased its participation in the CFE Treaty Joint Consultative Group meetings, thereby completing the process of suspending its adherence to the treaty; however, it continues to remain legally bound by it. Since then, Belarus has represented the interests of the Russian Federation in the Joint Consultative Group.