MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. Some fundamental instruments safeguarding European security are not functioning now, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in a televised interview with the Rossiya-24 channel on Wednesday.

"Revolutionary security instruments were created on the platform of the organization, which was initially the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and which was later transformed into the Organization (for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE - TASS). First of all, it is the treaty on intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles (the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, known as the INF Treaty - TASS), the treaty on conventional weapons in Europe (the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty - TASS), which preamble says that is the cornerstone of security in Europe, as well as the Treaty on Open Skies and so on and so forth. What do we see now? We see that these mechanisms are not working," the deputy foreign minister said.

Grushko added that the United States had withdrawn from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty), which "is generally the foundation of any arms control, both in the strategic dimension and in the regional dimension," and from the INF Treaty and the Treaty on Open Skies.

According to Grushko, Washington also stopped the allies from ratifying an agreement to adapt the CFE Treaty, "which, had it been implemented, would certainly have played a crucial role in easing the political and military situation in Europe."