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Russia links arms control treaty to Nato expansion
Russia will pull out of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty if ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia are set on the path to membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), Interfax news agency quoted a government official as saying on Friday.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:41 November 15, 2008
Moscow: Russia will pull out of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty if ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia are set on the path to membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), Interfax news agency quoted a government official as saying on Friday.
"If Ukraine and Georgia are granted Nato Membership Action Plans [MAP], then the revised CFE treaty will be doomed," Interfax quoted the unnamed official, whom it described as a senior military diplomat.
"If MAP starts being implemented for Ukraine and Georgia, Russia will not only continue the moratorium it imposed on the CFE, but will ultimately pull out of it."
Action plan
Georgia and Ukraine are seeking action plans, which are seen as road maps to eventual membership of Nato, at an alliance summit in December, though diplomats say it is unlikely either will be granted MAP.
Russia, which is fiercely opposed to Nato's expansion towards its borders, suspended its compliance with the CFE treaty last December but remains a signatory.
Moscow says the treaty, designed to limit battlefield weapons, such as tanks and armoured vehicles, on either side of the old Iron Curtain, is a Cold War relic which gives too much scope for an enlarged Nato to beef up its forces.
Breakaway forces quit
South Ossetian forces began pulling out of the Georgian village of Perevi on the border of the breakaway territory on Saturday, a police official said.
"This morning they started to demolish their checkpoint. By now, almost everything has been packed up, and they are moving to the other side of the border, leaving the village," he said.
Georgia last Sunday accused South Ossetian forces of occupying the village after Russian forces pulled back, drawing warnings from EU.
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