Agence France-Presse,
NATO member states and countries from the former Soviet bloc met in Vienna Tuesday to review a key post-Cold War arms control deal, at a time of tensions between Moscow and the West.
Russia called on May 23 for an extraordinary meeting to re-examine the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), signed in Paris in 1990 and aimed at establishing defence parity between the two former opposing sides.
The treaty was modified in 1999 to “adapt” it to the European security environment following the fall of the Soviet Union.
But the 1999 amendment to the treaty has yet to enter into effect because of a dispute between NATO and Russia.
NATO countries refuse to ratify the revised version because of the continuing presence of Russian troops in Georgia and Moldova.
The Vienna meeting comes as Washington and Moscow continue to spar over US plans to extend its missile shield into eastern Europe and shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to suspend his country's application of the CFE.
Speaking at the end of the first day of talks, the chief of the US delegation, Dan Fried, told a press conference: “The Russians did not announce today the suspension mentioned by President Putin.
“The NATO allies expressed their willingness to work with Russia… but made very clear that Russia should not suspend… it was very restrained in rhetoric.”
Monday the chief of the Russian delegation, Anatoly Antonov, said Russia had called the meeting because it “is unable to move freely its troops on its territory.”
“It is up to us to decide which armed forces we want to deploy,” he said, speaking of “unfair” limitations imposed on it by the CFE.
The treaty limits deployments of tanks and troops in countries belonging to NATO and the former Warsaw Pact in eastern Europe.
The Russians say that the system based on the two former blocs is no longer valid and Fried said the United States agreed that the “bloc to bloc structure is outmoded.”
“Many problems Russia has would be resolved instantly if the adapted treaty came into force…as we hope it will be,” he added.
“We need to see Russia fulfil its first commitments” set out in the adapted treaty, Fried had said earlier.
He also repeated an offer made by the US and its NATO allies to Russia last week to accept a multinational peacekeeping force in Transdniestr (eastern Moldova) in an effort to save the CFE.
Antonov scorned the proposal on Monday, but Fried said: “On Transdniestr, we are hopeful that some creative way can be found.”
The talks here this week will not touch on the US missile shield, the most recent major issue of contention between Moscow and Washington, the chief of the Russian delegation said.
But representatives of the 30 countries covered by the treaty would be called on to discuss US plans for military bases in Bulgaria and Romania.
“We have serious concerns about Romania and Bulgaria,” Antonov said, as these plans would involve the deployment of US troops in the two former Soviet states.
Fried said that few if any NATO troops would be stationed in the two countries and that the plan did not represent a threat to Russia.
The CFE meeting, convened at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is to last until Friday.
