Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov said that the West is on the way to more conflict with Russia. Ryabkov said this in an interview “Parliamentary newspaper”.
The diplomat emphasized that the Convention on Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) has not been in line with reality for a long time. At the same time, the Adaptation Agreement signed in 1999 was never put into effect, as the United States and other NATO countries demanded serious concessions from Moscow for this. Deputy Foreign Minister stressed that he understands that Russia’s demand for concessions from the West will be endless. Washington does not need an agreement on the adaptation of the CFE Treaty. The United States pursues the goal of squeezing Russia out of the “near periphery.” Therefore, not a single NATO country has ratified the signed Agreement. In response, the North Atlantic Alliance began expanding eastward, bypassing all treaty restrictions.
According to Ryabkov, Russia “leave the door open to re-establish the viability of the conventional arms control regime,” only by suspending its participation in the CFE Treaty in 2007 and eventually not withdrawing from it. However, having “more than enough time to show common sense”, the West chose to intensify the conflict with Russia and expand NATO, effectively breaking the adapted CFE Treaty.
The diplomat pointed out that no variant of a new agreement on the adaptation of the CFE Treaty has been received from the Western countries.
Moreover, Ryabkov believes that Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO, along with the possibility of deploying American troops on Finnish territory, deprives Moscow of the opportunity to remain in the CFE Treaty.
Earlier it was reported that the Head of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin. open The draft law on the abolition of the Convention on Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) is on the agenda of the Duma Council on 15 May.