President Putin Restates His Decision to Pull Out of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe

The 12th of December 2007, the date when Russia will withdraw from the CFE Treaty (Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe), is approaching. In an answer to a press question President Putin has confirmed the circumstances that induced Russia to take the decision to leave the treaty and restated his intention to proceed as planned.
President Putin said he had already spoken quite a bit on that subject and could only repeat what has been said before. Russia had signed the treaty, ratified it and observed its provisions unilaterally for many years. He would not tolerate the situation any longer. He wanted to emphasize that Russia was not going to wait forever.

“We made this decision at a time when our partners had not implemented the treaty - and they haven’t ratified it either- but, on the contrary, they have built up their military capabilities, and done so right in the immediate vicinity of our borders. Of course we have heard a lot of different justifications for this, and that everything that is done by the military near our borders is not directed against the Russian Federation, but, as they say in such cases, it is not the intentions that are important but the potential capabilities” said Mr Putin.

The capabilities were not developing in Russia’s favor and threatened the security of the Russian Federation. Mr Putin offered a glimmer of hope by saying that if the partners to the treaty do ratify these agreements and begin to implement them, then he was not ruling out the possibility that Russia would also comply.

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