23 июля 2007 Года
July 23, 2007. ARMS REDUCTION TREATY IN EUROPE COULD BE SALVAGED – RUSSIAN MP
 MOSCOW, July 23 (RIA Novosti) - The Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty could still be "reanimated" if NATO countries agree to ratify its adopted version before the December 2007 deadline, a Russian parliament member said Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin imposed July 14 a moratorium on Russia's observance of the CFE Treaty and related agreements, citing the "extraordinary circumstances concerning Russia's security that requires emergency measures," and set a 150-day deadline for the West to ratify it.
The president also submitted Monday a bill on the suspension of Russia's membership in the CFE Treaty to the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, the State Duma.
"The CFE treaty, despite all its shortcomings, could be reanimated, could still be salvaged, if our [NATO] partners ratify its adopted version and seriously consider Russian proposals at the latest CFE conference," said Konstantin Kosachev, head of the State Duma international relations committee.
Kosachev said that Russian lawmakers were not planning to discuss legal aspects of the unilateral moratorium anytime soon.
"We are in a 150-day [deadline] period, and the State Duma will make the final decision on the issue by the end of this period depending on our partner's response," he said.
The CFE Treaty was amended 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the original CFE Treaty, signed in 1990 by 30 countries to reduce conventional military forces on the continent, outdated since it does not reflect the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the breakup of the Soviet Union, or recent NATO expansion.
Moldova and Georgia have refused to ratify the treaty until Russia withdraws its troops from their territories. Russia maintains a peacekeeping contingent in Georgia and a battalion guarding ex-Soviet ammunition depots in the self-proclaimed republic of Transdnestr in Moldova.
NATO countries have insisted on Russia's withdrawal from Transdnestr and other post-Soviet regions as a condition for their ratifying the CFE Treaty. NATO's reluctance to ratify the re-drafted pact is a key source of tension between Russia and the Western security alliance
From RIA Novosti
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