Conventional Armed Forces in Europe treaty is a need: Turkish Foreign Ministry

"We regret the Russian Federation’s decision to withdraw from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty). Mainly since 2007, there has been a gradual erosion of the European security architecture in which the CFE Treaty remains a cornerstone," says Turkish Foreign Ministry in a recent statement.

Following the Russian Federation's decision to withdraw from the CFE Treaty, which will be effective on November 7, "Meaningful implementation of the Treaty by other States Parties has become impossible in practice. Under such conditions, we, together with other NATO Allies that are States Parties, needed to suspend the implementation of the Treaty for as long as is necessary," it adds on Tuesday.

The statement calls for the foundations and fundamental principles of the legally binding CFE treaty which will provide balance, transparency, and predictability among military forces with its numerical limitations and sub-regional system, including the flank regime.

"Modernisation, as may be needed for the European security architecture in the upcoming period, can only be built on this basis," it expresses.

"In this respect, we will continue exchanges on this matter with all relevant parties," it adds, emphasising the importance of a return to the full implementation of arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation arrangements for international security in the current extraordinary period.

Russia's withdrawal from the treaty

Russia formally has withdrawn from a key post-Cold War security treaty designed to de-escalate potential East-West conflicts, in a latest sign of rising tensions between Russia and NATO.

"At 00:00 on November 7, 2023, the procedure of Russia's withdrawal from the CFE (Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe), was completed," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement on its website on Tuesday.

"Thus, the international legal document, the validity of which was suspended by our country back in 2007, has finally become history for us."

CFE Treaty

The 1990 treaty, negotiated and concluded at the end of the Cold War and signed a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, placed limits on the deployment of military equipment to maintain military balance between NATO and the then-Warsaw Pact countries.

It imposed limits on five key categories of conventional military equipment in Europe — tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, helicopters, and combat aircraft — and mandated the destruction of excess weaponry.

In 1999, an updated CFE treaty was drafted and approved in Istanbul, Türkiye, taking into account new realities such as the Warsaw Pact's dissolution and NATO expansion.

Ukraine war

Russia suspended its participation in the treaty in 2007 and halted active participation in 2015.

In May 2023, well into the war in Ukraine that Russia launched in February 2022, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree denouncing the pact, drawing condemnation from NATO for "undermining Euro-Atlantic security".

"The CFE Treaty was concluded at the end of the Cold War, when the formation of a new architecture of global and European security based on cooperation seemed possible, and appropriate attempts were made," the Russian foreign ministry said.

The actions of the United States to expand NATO led to alliance countries "openly circumventing" the group restrictions, however, the ministry added.

"Thus, the CFE Treaty in its original form lost touch with reality."