The Law on the Repeal of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was adopted by Russia’s State Duma on Tuesday, May 16, as reported by TASS.
State Duma spokesman Vyacheslav Volodin announced on his Telegram channel that deputies, guided by the safety needs of Russian citizens, have decided to terminate the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. He attributed to US and EU officials a fixation on building a unipolar world and eroding the global security framework.
Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma Committee on International Relations and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, commented after the vote that the final withdrawal from the CFE Treaty fully aligns with Russia’s national security interests.
Volodin also claimed that the United States and NATO are arming the Kiev regime to safeguard their dominance and destabilize the global order.
The draft law to terminate the AKKA Treaty was submitted to the State Duma by President Vladimir Putin. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, remarked that the document has long been obsolete.
“The State Duma condemned the CEC Treaty. That treaty lost its validity for us in 2007,” Medvedev stated. He added that nothing prevents Moscow from placing weapons wherever it deems necessary to protect national interests, including Russia’s European territory.
Medvedev also asserted that Russia would push to increase the production of weapons, military gear, and means of destruction.
Yuri Shvytkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, told socialbites.ca that the agreement essentially did not function and that Russia had not suffered a loss. He noted that NATO members did not comply, and that Russia had to take proper precautions. He explained that the treaty was open-ended, but each state could withdraw with 150 days’ notice, and that is what is happening now.
Shvytkin highlighted that the key provisions of the CFE Treaty concerned maximum allowed levels of weapons and equipment for all regional participants and the zones where those limits applied. He argued that NATO countries exceeded these limits as the alliance expanded. He recalled a time when the Warsaw Pact and NATO formed a balance of power, and asserted that since 2007 NATO members have violated the treaty by conducting military exercises and expanding weaponry, equipment, and personnel. He noted that Russia could not unilaterally comply while other participants did not.
According to Shvytkin, the forthcoming steps involve sending the relevant documents to all participants, followed by reactions from those states. He described this as a signal being sent on the issue.
The CFE Treaty, signed in 1990 and adapted in 1997, never saw ratification of the updated version by NATO members, who continued to adhere to the 1990 framework of conventional weapons norms balanced between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Consequently, Russia declared a moratorium on the treaty’s terms in 2007. In 2015, Russia suspended its participation in CFE Joint Advisory Group meetings, remaining only de jure in the agreement.
The treaty aimed to maintain a stable balance of conventional weapons, including tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft, attack helicopters, and artillery. It was credited with reducing the potential for surprise attacks and large-scale offensives. Recent reports indicated that some Eastern European states were violating the treaty’s requirements, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov. He also addressed questions about a possible return to the CFE Treaty, saying there are no current plans to readmit it.
On May 10, Ryabkov described the CFE Treaty as a remnant of the past, stemming from the changes after Finland and Sweden sought and received NATO membership. The broader context involves ongoing shifts in security alignments across Europe and the broader Atlantic security architecture, with implications for regional stability and arms control efforts that remain closely watched by observers in North America and beyond.
Attribution: Reporting synthesized from official Russian statements and parliamentary remarks with primary details drawn from TASS coverage and subsequent analyses of the State Duma proceedings and Russian foreign policy commentary.