MOSCOW: Russia's lower house of parliament unanimously issued a statement Friday expressing concern over NATO military buildup near Russia's borders, accusing the alliance of blocking an updated version of Europe's main arms control treaty.
“The consistent and unjustifiable obstruction of the adapted version of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty by the North Atlantic alliance's member states is creating conditions for uncontrolled military buildup near Russian borders, and [poses] a direct threat to the security and stability of the whole of Europe,” the State Duma said in its statement.
The CFE agreement was concluded in 1990 by the 22 members of NATO and the now defunct Warsaw Pact to enhance arms control in Europe. An updated version, elaborated to adapt the accord to post-Cold War realities, was signed by all the parties in 1999, but only four – Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan – have ratified it so far.
The trans-Atlantic alliance has said its member nations will not ratify the adapted CFE until Russia withdraws its military bases from ex-Soviet republics, such as Georgia and Moldova. But Russian officials believe this is not the case, and argue that NATO countries are just using it as a pretext not to ratify the adapted treaty, which many in the West regard as a relic of the past.
The Duma statement also spoke against U.S. plans to build national missile shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. It argued that the deployment of missile defense sites in Central Europe will trigger a new arms race and may even lead to a split in Europe. These plans call into question the possibility of meaningful cooperation in missile defense within the framework of the Russia-NATO Council, it said.
Washington has said the planned defenses are not targeted at Russia, but are intended to protect U.S. and European security interests against a possible missile attack from “rogue states” such as Iran. But Moscow remains unconvinced.
“Announcements by a number of American officials on Washington's plans to expand its missile defense shield into Ukraine and the Caucasus look especially unsettling,” the Duma said.
It described as “destabilizing” calls by NATO members to diversify the bloc's activities into regulating energy supply so that it could ensure energy security and undisrupted deliveries to its member countries.
