The ‘Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe ‘(CFE) from 1990 sought military transparency.
QUICK FACTS:
- Russia plans to withdraw from the ‘Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe’ (CFE), an agreement from 1990 that set limits on armed forces to prevent large-scale attacks.
- Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov is overseeing the withdrawal procedure.
- Russian officials have claimed the CFE serves little purpose today as the US military bloc expansion, including former Warsaw Pact members, has eroded the treaty.
- Russia previously partially suspended its participation with the CFE in 2007, arguing NATO members failed to hold their military forces to the conditions described in the treaty.
- In 2015, Russia withdrew from the CFE’s processes, although the country remained connected to the treaty.
- An official decree calling for withdrawal states that Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Alekseevich Ryabkov will be appointed “as the official representative of the President when the chambers of the Federal Assembly consider the issue of denunciation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.”
UNITED STATES WITHDRAWS FROM TREATIES WITH RUSSIA:
- In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush withdrew from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty, citing the need for defense against “rogue states.”
- The Trump administration also withdrew from two treaties, including the Treaty on Open Skies, which allowed nations to fly over each other’s territory to collect military information.
- “On May 22, 2020, the United States exercised its right pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article XV of the Treaty on Open Skies by providing notice to the Treaty Depositaries and to all States Parties of its decision to withdraw from the Treaty, effective six months from the notification date,” State Department deputy spokesman Cale Brown said at the time.
- In 2019, the United States also withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which prohibited particular land-based missiles, claiming that Russia violated the treaty.
- “Russia has violated the agreement; they have been violating it for many years,” Trump said during a rally. “And we’re not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons and we’re not allowed to.”
BACKGROUND:
- Russia also suspended its participation in New START, an arms reduction agreement, in February 2023.
- “I have to say today that Russia is suspending its participation in New START. I repeat, not withdrawing from the treaty, no, but merely suspending its participation,” Russian President Vladimir Putin stated.
- START was originally signed by U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 and sought to reduce and limit the number of nuclear weapons held by the countries.
