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Russia looks for revival of CFE Treaty- Lavrov

© RIA Novosti . Alexei Kudenko / Go to the mediabankSergei Lavrov
Sergei Lavrov - Sputnik International
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Russia does not deem an adapted Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty) irrelevant and expects NATO to accept it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.

Russia does not deem an adapted Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty) irrelevant and expects NATO to accept it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.

The CFE Treaty was signed in 1990 by 16 NATO countries and six Warsaw Pact members; it came into force in 1992. The treaty set equal ceilings for each bloc on five key categories of conventional armaments and military hardware, including tanks, combat armored vehicles, artillery, assault helicopters and combat aircraft.

The CFE Treaty played a crucial stabilizing role during the breakup of the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Eastern Europe. However, the later document became largely outdated and irrelevant amid large-scale changes in the military and political environment.

Russia imposed a unilateral moratorium on the CFE treaty in December 2007, citing concerns over NATO's eastward expansion, U.S. missile defense plans for Europe, and the alleged refusal of the alliance's new members to ratify the adapted treaty.

Russia has repeatedly said it will resume its participation in the CFE if NATO countries ratify the adapted treaty, signed on November 19, 1999 and so far ratified only by Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

"In fact we want to overcome the dead-end situation, which arose not because of us," Lavrov said at Munich Security Conference, adding that talks aimed to resolve the situation are currently underway in Vienna.

 

MUNICH, February 5 (RIA Novosti)

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