Russia on Wednesday suspended participation in a key Cold War treaty limiting armed forces in Europe amid mounting East-West security tensions, according to DPA. Russia has suspended all activities towards observing the treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) since midnight on December 12, The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "This step has been prompted by exceptional circumstances related to the CFE's contents, which concern Russia's security and require urgent measures," the ministry said. The treaty was a vital part of Cold War arms-restraint agreements signed between 16 NATO members and six former Warsaw Pact nations in 1990, but Russia is the only state to have signed an amended draft of the document since the strategic upheaval accompanying the fall of the Soviet Union. In a statement issued by NATO's headquarters in Brussels, the western military alliance expressed "deep regret" over Russia's decision to unilaterally "suspend" implementation of its CFE obligations. "This is particularly disappointing because ... (NATO) allies have worked intensively with other Treaty partners over the past months to try to resolve the Russian Federation's concerns constructively," NATO said. NATO reaffirmed its right to "take any steps provided for by the treaty and international law," and at the same time insisted that it still wanted to "resolve the current impasse and preserve the benefits" of the treaty. European officials pressed Russia not to abstain from the treaty, saying it could lead to a disintegration of the network of Cold War security treaties and a new arms race. But Moscow bucks at the "farfetched conditions" tied to Europe's ratification of the treaty, angry at NATO's demand it withdraw troops from breakaway regions in the former Soviet states of Georgia and Moldova.
