Russia’s State Duma denounces Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe

State Duma deputies have unanimously voted in favor of denouncing the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), following Vladimir Putin’s directive, issued on May 10.

Russia suspended its compliance with CFE in July 2007, terminating its participation in its Joint Consultative Group in 2015.

The original treaty, crafted at the close of the Cold War, established equal limits on the number of conventional military equipment that could be amassed either by NATO or by the Warsaw Pact countries. The purpose of the treaty was to maintain a military balance between the two blocs and to rule out the possibility of a blitzkrieg-type offensive by either side.

In recent years, Russian officials have criticized the treaty as anachronistic and out of synch with the present reality.