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Outmoded CFE treaty needs revitalization, Russia says

12 June 2007 10:10 (UTC +04:00)

Russia has called for constructive dialogue with NATO nations on revitalising an arms control pact that it considers outdated and that will be the subject of an emergency conference starting on Tuesday, APAâ€™s Europe bureau reports.
On the eve of the meeting on the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, a senior Russian official said it was unacceptable that the CFE should restrict Russia’s troop movements within its own territory.
But Anatoly Antonov, head of Moscow’s delegation to the Vienna gathering, softened President Vladimir Putin’s April declaration of a freeze in Russian compliance with the CFE.
"We have not declared a moratorium," Antonov told a news conference. "At this particular point we are not talking about withdrawing from the treaty but rather we are talking about suspending the operation of the treaty."
"Our desire to revitalise the treaty is what was behind our request for this conference," he said.
The CFE treaty, first signed in 1990, is still described as a cornerstone of European security. It limits the amount of heavy military equipment deployed in the area from the Atlantic to the Urals that used to be split by the Iron Curtain.
It was updated in 1999 after most of the old Soviet Union’s Warsaw Pact allies joined NATO. But most of the 30 signatories have refused to ratify the updated version until Russia pulls out its bases from Moldova and Georgia, as it has promised.
The U.S. delegation was due to outline its position on Tuesday afternoon, just before the conference begins. /APA/