The Russian State Duma voted yesterday to approve President Vladimir Putin’s earlier order formally withdrawing Russia from the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. “[Russia’s] definitive withdrawal from the CFE Treaty and its denunciation fully correspond to the national interest of ensuring Russia’s security,” said Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR).
Russia had suspended participation in the treaty as far back as 2007, but now has formally withdrawn. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a plenary session of the Duma: “Clearly, the treaty has finally become a relic of the past in the new situation. Our adversaries should be under no illusion that Russia could return to it.” He added that “there has emerged a new situation where even the formal preservation of Russia’s status as a party to the Treaty, despite its suspension, directly contradicts the interests of the country’s national security.”
“We have already written it off. It is a thing of the past. What other states will do is up to them to decide. They won’t be able to intimidate us,” Ryabkov stressed. He noted that “the reaction (of the West) was not without an element of alarm. Naturally, we understand that it doesn’t add to the feeling of security in the West, but there are no grounds for any consultations here. Consultations should have been held earlier; the door has been open since the suspension of the treaty in 2007.”
