The State Duma of Russia adopted a law on the denunciation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which was signed in 1990 in Paris with the NATO countries and the states that were part of the Warsaw Pact Organization, including the USSR.
The MPs voted unanimously for the corresponding decision, after which they began to applaud.
This treaty limited the number of weapons and military equipment for the participating countries. The document limited five main categories: battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery, attack helicopters and combat aircraft. The treaty applied to the territories from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains, the Ural River and the Caspian Sea, including islands.
According to the treaty, the blocs were allowed to have the same number of listed weapons. Their total number should not exceed 40 000 tanks, 60 000 armored fighting vehicles, 40 000 artillery units, 13 600 combat aircraft and 4 000 attack helicopters.
- Russia suspended the treaty in July 2007, after several years of refusing to join the Baltic states, then new members of NATO. In March 2015, the authorities of the Russian Federation announced that they would stop participating in the meetings of the Joint Consultative Group.
- On May 10, 2023, Putin issued an order that Russia denounces the treaty. He instructed the State Duma and the Federation Council to resolve this issue.