July 18, 2007 :: Spacewar.com :: News
Russia rejected a NATO proposal for consultations over the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty from which it said it would withdraw. Russia added, however, that it would consider talks the U.S. later. "I don't see much point in holding such a meeting since the position of NATO on the CFE treaty has not yet changed," said General Yevgeny Buzhinsky, a top defense ministry official, in Itar-Tass. The Russian general said the CFE treaty should either be changed or renegotiated. Buzhinsky added that if NATO countries do not ratify the treaty by December, Russia will withdraw. The CFE treaty regulates the deployments of tanks and troops in NATO and former Warsaw Pact countries in Europe. NATO countries insist they will only ratify the treaty once Russia withdraws its remaining forces in Georgia and Moldova.
Buzhinsky also emphasized his country's interest in converting the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty into a multilateral agreement, and in renegotiating the Strategic Offensive Reductions treaty which expires in 2009. The INF treaty bans ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of 500-5,500 kilometers, but currently only applies to the U.S. and Russia. The 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions treaty reduces warheads in Russia and the U.S. by two thirds, to between 1,700 and 2,200 deployed warheads each. (Article)
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