From RIA Novosti:  Six years after announcing a unilateral moratorium on the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), the Russian Defense Ministry has reaffirmed that the original document has no prospects in the future.

“The CFE treaty was signed when two opposing military blocs – NATO and the Warsaw Pact – still existed,” head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s department for control over the execution of international treaties Sergei Ryzhkov told reporters in Moscow on Monday.

“One of these blocs is gone, but the old treaty remains. I do not see its usefulness anymore as it has lost all meaning,” Ryzhkov said. . . .

The treaty was updated in 1999, but NATO members states refused to ratify it, citing the fact that Russia was keeping troops in Georgia and the breakaway Moldovan region of Transdnestr as a pretext.

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 refusal of alliance members to ratify the adapted treaty. Moscow has repeatedly said it will resume its participation in the CFE if NATO member states ratify the adapted treaty.  (photo: OSCE)

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