Russia halts participation in arms treaty consulting group
Russia says it has suspended its participation in a consulting group on a conventional arms treaty for Europe, amid rising tensions with the West.
The Russian Federation will not take part in meetings of the Joint Consultative Group, which is related to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), starting from March 11, the Russian Foreign Ministry quoted the head of the Delegation to the Vienna Negotiations on Military Security and Arms Control, Anton Mazur, as saying on Tuesday.
He went on to say that "Russia considers it senseless to continue its participation in the meetings of the" consultative group "for political and practical reasons and unreasonably costly from the financial-economic point of view."
“Thus, the suspension of the participation in the CFE treaty announced by Russia in 2007 has become complete,” Mazur confirmed.
Belarus will now represent Russia in the consulting group, the statement said.
Moscow, however, remains a signatory to the CFE, which is regarded as a cornerstone of security in post-Cold War Europe.
The CFE, signed in 1991, regulates the number of armed forces and combat vehicles, aircraft or tanks between NATO and the former Warsaw Pact states by a system of mutual information and inspection.
Russia-West cooled ties
The statements come against a backdrop of escalation of tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine.
The Moscow-West relations have cooled sharply after Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea joined the Russian Federation following a referendum in March 2014.
Meanwhile, peace talks in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk on February 11-12 witnessed the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine agreeing on the withdrawal of heavy weapons from Ukraine’s frontlines and a ceasefire, which officially went into effect on February 14.
However, sporadic clashes have continued and both sides keep accusing each other of violating the terms of the ceasefire in major eastern cities including Donetsk.
The US and NATO accuse Moscow of involvement in the turmoil in eastern Ukraine and have imposed a series of sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia figures. Moscow, however, rejects the accusation.
GMA/MHB/AS
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