Medvedev: denunciation of the CFE Treaty allows placing weapons where Russia needs themAfter the denunciation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE)
Russia can place weapons wherever it wants. This was announced on May 16 by Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev.
"Now <...> nothing prevents us from placing our weapons where we want to protect national interests. Including our Russian part of Europe," Medvedev wrote in his Telegram channel.
He also added that Russia will maximize the production of weapons, military equipment and weapons of destruction.
The bill on the denunciation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was introduced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the State Duma on May 10.
The explanatory note to the bill emphasized that currently the United States and its allies are pursuing a line of confrontation with Russia, fraught with disastrous consequences. It is clarified that the current state of affairs requires taking measures to denounce the treaty and start domestic procedures for Russia's withdrawal from it.
At the same time, on May 12, the head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, Konstantin Gavrilov, said that this treaty had outlived its usefulness and did not meet the national interests of the Russian Federation.
On May 16, the State Duma voted to denounce the CFE Treaty. In addition, a number of international agreements related to the treaty are automatically terminated.
The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was signed in Paris in 1990. The updated version of the CFE Treaty was ratified at the OSCE Summit in Istanbul in 1999. It was signed only by Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. In 2007, Moscow suspended its participation in the treaty until NATO member countries begin to implement it in good faith.