BUDAPEST, April 10. /TASS/. Hungary’s parliament has passed, 177-5, a bill suspending the country’s participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) in a vote broadcast on the parliamentary website.
Addressing the parliament hearing on behalf of the Hungarian government, Foreign Ministry State Secretary Peter Sztaray said that the CFE Treaty had played an important role in maintaining the balance of armed forces in Europe but "lost its meaning due to Russia’s withdrawal."
Russia denounced the CFE Treaty in May 2023. After that, NATO countries announced plans to suspend their participation indefinitely. According to the Hungarian media, more than one-third of the alliance’s member states have passed the relevant laws.
The treaty, signed in 1990, took effect in 1992 and was adapted in 1997. The document limits the number of conventional weapons and equipment in five basic categories ( tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery systems, attack helicopters and warplanes). It also establishes compliance control mechanisms (information exchanges and inspections).
North Atlantic Alliance members did not ratify the adapted version of the treaty and continued to abide by the 1990 provisions, which define limits for conventional arms based on the balance between NATO and the now dissolved Warsaw Pact Organization. Such an approach was not the one to suit Russia.
On May 29, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law denouncing the CFE Treaty, which came into force on June 9. Moscow has repeatedly stated that the United States and other NATO allies are the ones to blame for the termination of the treaty.