Russian Duma's Second Vote for Official Exit from the 'Conventional Armed Forces in Europe' Treaty

On Tuesday, the Russian State Duma unanimously voted in favor of officially exiting a significant Cold War-era security agreement. This comes as Moscow has effectively halted cooperation with the 'Conventional Armed Forces in Europe' treaty for over eight years. The vote occurred less than a week after President Vladimir Putin submitted a draft bill to the Duma condemning the treaty. The bill aims to prevent the deployment of rival forces at the shared borders during the final years of the Cold War. The agreement was signed in November 1990 but took two years to be fully ratified. Russia first announced its intention to withdraw from the treaty in late 2014 following the annexation of Crimea. In this context, a representative of Vladimir Putin told Duma members that NATO members have made Russia's participation in the treaty 'impossible' by allowing NATO's expansion into Central and Eastern Europe. Sergey Ryabkov, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, also described the treaty as contrary to Russia's security interests in an interview published on Monday in 'Parlamentskaya Gazeta', a parliamentary publication. He stated that the withdrawal process would take about six months. This comes as Russia has been conducting military operations against Ukraine since last February, which shares borders with NATO members Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary. Leonid Slutsky, a Duma spokesperson, stated that the treaty has long existed only on paper. Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Russian parliamentary committee, also mentioned that with NATO military infrastructure established in Central and Eastern European member states, the treaty has effectively become obsolete.