MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/. Russia has no intention of returning to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), as this chapter has been closed for the country, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told journalists on Tuesday.
"Regarding the CFE Treaty, this chapter is over, the page has been turned, there will be no revision of this document for Russia," the high-ranking Russian diplomat stated.
Ryabkov pointed out that NATO member states and Russia are signatories to a number of other international agreements, some of which play a fundamental security role.
"I am confident that such documents as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will maintain their significance in the future," the diplomat said. "There is a host of other examples in favor of such legal framework documents that benefit global security as well as our national security."
On May 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Ryabkov as his official representative for the legislative process of formally denouncing the CFE Treaty by the Russian parliament.
The CFE Treaty was signed in 1990 and amended in 1999. However, the NATO countries never ratified the amended version of the CFE Treaty 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, completing the process of suspending its membership in the CFE while remaining a purely de jure party to the treaty. Since then, Belarus has represented Russia’s interests in the Joint Consultative Group.