NATO, US slam Russia for withdrawing from conventional arms treaty

The U.S. and Western allies on Tuesday criticized Russia for withdrawing from a major treaty limiting the deployment of military armor across Europe and accused Moscow of undermining security on the continent.

Russia on Tuesday formally withdrew from the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, which was signed in 1990 during the breakup of the Soviet Union to set equal limits on tanks, artillery and aircraft that could be deployed in Europe.

The decision prompted the U.S. and the Western security alliance NATO to quickly suspend the CFE treaty.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Russia’s withdrawal from the treaty “further demonstrates Moscow’s continued disregard for arms control” and the U.S. was compelled to respond, given Russia has the largest armed forces in Europe.

“The combination of Russia’s withdrawal from the CFE Treaty and its continuing full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine has fundamentally altered circumstances that were essential to the CFE States Parties’ consent to be bound by the treaty, and radically transformed the obligations under the treaty,” Sullivan said in a statement.

NATO said in a statement that allied state parties would suspend the treaty as well because the alliance was forced to respond to Russia’s withdrawal. The defensive organization blasted Russia’s withdrawal as “the latest in a series of actions that systematically undermines Euro-Atlantic security.”

“Russia continues to demonstrate disregard for arms control, including key principles of reciprocity, transparency, compliance, verification, and host nation consent, and undermines the rules based international order,” the statement reads.

The war in Ukraine has dashed the progress made between the West and Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also suspended a major nuclear arms treaty with the U.S. and revoked the ratification of an atomic weapons testing ban.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry, which said over the summer the decision to withdraw from the CFE was finalized, claimed it was impossible to negotiate with the West on the treaty.

“Authorities of NATO member states and the bloc’s clients clearly demonstrated their inability to negotiate,” according to a statement carried by state media.