Agence France-Presse, OSLO: NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer affirmed Thursday the alliance’s commitment to a Cold War-era arms treaty limiting military forces in Europe, after Russia threatened to abandon it.
“NATO allies attach great importance to the adapted Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty and its ratification,” he told reporters in Olso, ahead of informal talks between alliance foreign ministers.
The treaty was signed in 1990 by the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the former Warsaw Pact.
It was adapted in Istanbul in 1999 following the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the enlargement of NATO, but NATO states have not yet ratified the new pact, arguing that Russia must first withdraw troops from Georgia and Moldova.
“We also know that there are still a number of hurdles in the way called the Istanbul commitments,” noted Scheffer, before talks later Thursday in the so-called NATO-Russia Council with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
In a state of the nation address earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: “It would be appropriate to announce a moratorium on Russian adherence to this treaty until it has been ratified by all NATO countries.”
“I suggest this issue be raised in the Russia-NATO Council and, in the event there is no progress in negotiation, that we consider terminating our obligations under the CFE,” he said.
Scheffer said: “This is a subject that will, without any doubt, be discussed. I expect Sergei Lavrov later this afternoon to explain the words of his president.”
Putin’s threat brings new tensions to NATO-Russia relations.
Ties have been strained over U.S. plans to extend its missile shield into former Soviet satellite states and the chance that Russia might veto a plan to give supervised independence to Kosovo, where NATO has 17,000 troops based.
