Russia pulls out of Conventional Forces in Europe TreatyJuly 14, 2007 - 15:06 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree suspending Russia's participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty due to "extraordinary circumstances, which affect the security of the Russian Federation and require immediate measures". Somme differences occurred between Russia and West in interpreting the CFE agreement. Russia states that armed forces of the new NATO member-states do not meet requirements of the Treaty. From the other hand Western countries do not ratify the amendments to the document saying that Russia has not fulfilled its commitments to withdraw Russian troops from Georgia and Transdnestria. On Russia's initiative a conference was held on June in Vienna, where participants discussed the situation in the CFE agreement. Moscow offered to review the document but Western nations did not express support for that idea and the conference ended with no results. In a statement, the Kremlin Press Office said the causes for suspending Russia's participation in the CFE agreement are exactly the above mentioned "extraordinary circumstances", which make Russia suspend his participation in the CFE agreement "until NATO member-states ratify the adapted version of the document and fulfill their commitments, the BBC Russian service reports. For the first time Putin mentioned of such possibility in his annual message to the both chambers of the Russian Parliament April 26. He offered to suspend the CFE agreement until all European countries, including those which are NATO member-states ratify the adapted version of the document. The treaty between Russian and NATO members was signed in 1990 and amended in 1999 to reflect changes since the breakup of the Soviet Union. It sets limits for the number of tanks, heavy artillery and combat aircraft, as well as troops, deployed in the region between the Atlantic Ocean and the Urals Mountains. Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | International cybercrime ringleaders arrested in Armenia, Ukraine Europol, Europe's crime agency, has arrested four ringleaders of several cybercrime networks that used botnets. Armenia skips CSTO Defense Ministers meeting A meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization countries began in Almaty. Armenian, Iranian foreigh policy chief talk over the phone The Foreign Minister of Armenia once again expressed condolences to his counterpart on the death of the President of Iran. Armenia, U.S. customs authorities to boost assistance with new deal The government has approved an agreement with the U.S. government on mutual assistance between the customs authorities. |