"We should not underestimate the importance of conventional arms control or the relations between states. Russia's declared intention to abandon the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty is a matter of concern to us. An erosion of the CFE Treaty could lead to a new arms race and create new conflicts," Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Bernard Kouchner said in a joint article.
In the article, published in French newspaper Le Figaro and Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the ministers urged Russia not to reignite Soviet-era confrontations.
"The termination of the CFE Treaty, which could come on December 12, would spell the end of a treaty based regime," they said.
A July 14 decree signed by President Vladimir Putin set a 150-day deadline for the West to ratify the treaty. Meanwhile, Russia has pledged to honor all its commitments under the treaty until the moratorium comes into effect on December 12.
Russia's defense minister said last Thursday that NATO member states still have the chance to ratify the adapted Conventional Forces in Europe treaty (CFE) before the Russian deadline for a moratorium expires.
"This [deadline] encourages NATO to make a decision as soon as possible," Anatoly Serdyukov said following an informal meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Noordwijk, in the western Netherlands.
The Soviet-era CFE Treaty was adapted in 1999 in Istanbul in line with post-Cold War realities, and has so far only been ratified by Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine.
Moscow considers the original CFE Treaty, signed in 1990 by 30 countries to reduce conventional military forces on the continent, outdated since it does not reflect the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the breakup of the Soviet Union, or NATO expansion.
Following its large-scale expansion over the last decade, NATO has substantially exceeded armament levels permitted by the CFE for NATO members - by 6,000 tanks, some 10,000 armored vehicles, over 5,000 artillery items and some 1,500 combat planes.
Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, will consider the future of the treaty on November 6.
