⚡️ Foreign Ministry statement on the completion of the procedure for the Russian Federation’s withdrawal from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty)
📃 At midnight on November 7, 2023, the procedure planned under the CFE for Russia’s withdrawal from this agreement was completed. Thus, the international legal document, the operation of which was suspended by our country in 2007, has become history for Russia once and for all.
At the same time, two other legally binding agreements closely associated with the Agreement on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) − the so-called Budapest Agreement of November 3, 1990 on the maximum levels for holdings of conventional armaments and equipment for six member states of the Warsaw Treaty, and the Flank Document of May 31, 1996 − have also lost force for the Russian Federation as well
The Western participants overestimated their ability to influence Russia and our country’s interest in the CFE Treaty. Given the destructive stance of the United States and its allies towards the Agreement on Adaptation of the CFE Treaty, Russia suspended the treaty’s operation in 2007.
☝️ This aligned with the Munich speech by President Putin (February 2007), and became one of our country’s first steps to staunchly oppose the hegemony of the collective West and the West-imposed security concept based on arbitrary rules.
By suspending the CFE Treaty, Russia left the door open for a dialogue on ways to restore the viability of conventional arms control in Europe. However, our opponents did not take this opportunity and continued to base their policies on anti-Russian bloc principles rather than cooperation.
❗️ Given the direct responsibility of NATO countries for fuelling the Ukraine conflict, as well as the accession of Finland to the alliance and the ongoing consideration of a similar application by Sweden, even the formal preservation of the CFE Treaty has become unacceptable from the standpoint of Russia’s core security interests.
Editor: Raja kamran