On Tuesday, Moscow has formally withdrawn from an international security pact that restricts the use of conventional weapons. Russia pulled out of the landmark pact almost a week after President Vladimir Putin had revoked the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the treaty did not meet Russia’s interests, adding that NATO expansion made such co-operation impossible.
“Even the formal preservation of the CFE Treaty has become unacceptable from the point of view of Russia’s fundamental security interests.”
The CTBT is an international treaty that bans nuclear weapons tests and any other nuclear explosions. The UN General Assembly adopted the treaty on 10 September 1996. Since then it has been signed by 186 countries and ratified by 177. However, the treaty has not entered into force: The US, India, Egypt, North Korea, China and Pakistan have neither signed nor ratified it.
More than a year after the war in Ukraine began, Putin signed a decree denouncing the pact in May.
The CFE Treaty was concluded at the end of the Cold War, when the formation of a new architecture of global and European security based on cooperation seemed possible, and appropriate attempts were made.
Earlier, NATO condemned Russia’s decision to withdraw from the CFE Treaty, claiming it undermined Euro-Atlantic security.
According to the State Department, the US and NATO terminated the treaty against Russia in 2011 in response to Russia’s “suspension,” which Washington claimed was not allowed by the treaty.
