Ebru News | Russia Suspends Arms Treaty

Russia Suspends Arms Treaty

Russia formally suspended its participation in a key European arms control treaty today but is ready for talks to end the moratorium, the Foreign Ministry said.

12
Dec
2007

(Ebru News/AP) Russia formally suspended its participation in a key European arms control treaty today but is ready for talks to end the moratorium, the Foreign Ministry said. President Vladimir Putin last month signed a law calling for suspension of Russian actions under the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty. The treaty placed limits on the number of conventional weapons that can be deployed west of the Ural Mountains.

Putin called for the suspension because NATO countries have not ratified a revised version of the treaty.

The Foreign Ministry said Russia has stopped exchanging information stipulated by the treaty and had stopped receiving foreign inspectors.

Putin's call for Russia's temporary withdrawal from the treaty coincided with mounting anger in the Kremlin over U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe.

But analyst Vyacheslav Matuzov said he believed the withdrawal was not an anti-Western move:

Vyacheslav Matuzov, analyst said:
"It is defending the national interest. Such a kind of view is very widely spread in Russian Federation and Russian people are looking at this decision and supporting Mr. Putin."

The suspension also reflects Russia's growing military confidence as it uses soaring budget revenues to rebuild the armed forces and restore Russia as a world military power.

Ebru TV