NATO officials on Wednesday said the alliance was ready to discuss Russia's concerns over a key European arms control treaty and warned against an "over-dramatization" of currently strained relations with Moscow, according to dpa. "NATO allies are ready to meet whenever and wherever to address Russia's concerns on the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE)," alliance spokesman James Appathurai told reporters. Appathurai said the 26 NATO nations were ready to hold an international conference on the CFE treaty. "Our door is open for discussion," he said. Asked about Moscow's call for a replacement for the treaty, the NATO spokesman said the alliance still had trouble understanding the Russian stance on the CFE. "The Russian position is not fully clear to me ... I must say I have trouble keeping up with the Russian proposals," said Appathurai. Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the weekend he was suspending Moscow's participation in the CFE treaty. Interfax reported Wednesday that a Russian Defence Ministry described the treaty as "obsolete" and said it no longer reflected today's realities. NATO had 150 days to show its willingness to renegotiate certain points of the treaty, the official told Interfax. The suspension of the CFE treaty did not mean that Russia would immediately deploy troops to its western borders - but the military leadership now had the possibility to do so, he said. Appathurai, however, described the pact as "important" and said it had provided much-needed transparency on the deployment of weapons. The 1990 CFE agreement - signed in the fading months of the Cold War - sets limits on the number of conventional weapons and military deployments across Europe. It led to the removal of huge artillery stockpiles in the 1990s. The treaty was updated in 1999 at a meeting in Istanbul. However, NATO governments have refused to ratify the revised version, saying Moscow must first withdraw its remaining forces from two breakaway regions in Georgia and Moldova. Appathurai said the alliance continued to believe that the agreement should be brought into force and said the ball was in Moscow's court to enable its implementation. While highlighting NATO's concern and disappointment at the Russian stance, Appathurai insisted that the alliance's offer to engage with Russia on the issue should be looked at carefully. He admitted that relations between Russia and NATO were strained over the CFE treaty, Moscow's opposition to US missile defence plans for Poland and the Czech Republic, and a Russian veto threat over UN plans for supervised independence for Kosovo. On such areas, NATO-Russia relations were "extremely tense," said Appathurai. But he underlined that the alliance was also working closely with Moscow on counter-narcotics programmes in Afghanistan and counter- terrorism operations in the Mediterranean, and said the two sides also exchanged intelligence. "The record is mixed," he said commenting on the current state of NATO's ties with Russia. "But let's not over-dramatize to the point where we throw out the baby with the bath water," Appathurai cautioned.
