Conference in Vienna to 'dispel any illusions' of Russia's return to CFE Treaty — diplomat
Konstantin Gavrilov did not rule out that Western participants in the conference would try to make another "political show" out of it, "pass off white as black" and hide their responsibility for the dismantling of the architecture of conventional arms control in Europe
VIENNA, June 26. /TASS/. Russia will "dispel any illusions" its opponents have about the country’s possible return to the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) during a conference on its withdrawal from that treaty to be held in Vienna in late June, a high-ranking Russian diplomat told TASS on Monday.
"The upcoming conference will have more of a technical significance for us. The Russian side will dispel any illusions our opponents have that our country may return to the CFE Treaty. We will state our principled position based on the federal law on the denunciation of the CFE Treaty. We will once again inform NATO member countries and the entire world community about our point of view that it was the collective West whose destructive actions made it impossible for us to remain a signatory to the treaty," said Konstantin Gavrilov, who leads the Russian delegation to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control.
He did not rule out, however, that Western participants in the conference would try to make another "political show" out of it, "pass off white as black" and hide their responsibility for the dismantling of the architecture of conventional arms control in Europe.
The conference will be held on June 29-30.
The law on the denunciation of the CFE Treaty was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 29 and came into force on June 9.
The CFE Treaty was signed in 1990 and adapted in 1997. However, NATO countries did not ratify the adapted version of the CFE 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 forced to declare a moratorium on the treaty’s implementation 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 been representing Russia’s interests in the Joint Consultative Group.