MOSCOW, May 10. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov as his official representative for parliamentary consideration of Russia’s denunciation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), according to a presidential decree made public on Wednesday.

"To appoint Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov Sergey Alexeyevich as the official representative of the president of the Russian Federation when the houses of the Russian Federation Federal Assembly consider the denunciation by Russia of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, signed in Paris on November 19, 1990," says the document.

The treaty was signed in 1990 and amended in 1997. NATO countries did not ratify the amended version of the CFE, however, and have continued to adhere to the 1990 provisions, based on the conventional arms balance between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. As a result, Russia was compelled to declare a moratorium on implementing the terms of the treaty in 2007.

On March 11, 2015, Russia suspended its participation in meetings of the Joint Consultative Group on the CFE Treaty, thus completing the process of suspending its membership in the CFE while remaining a purely de jure party to the treaty. Since then, Russia's interests in the Joint Consultative Group have been represented by Belarus.