Russia ready to discuss new CFE treaty with NATO – Foreign Ministry

(Interfax – Moscow, August 18, 2015)

Russia is ready for dialogue with NATO on new parameters of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) if the alliance’s proposal answer present-day realities, Mikhail Ulyanov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, has said.

“In principle, we are ready to discuss the parameters of a mechanism to control weapons in Europe which answers contemporary realities,” he said, answering a question by Interfax on Tuesday [18 August].

According to Ulyanov, for Russia the current version of the CFE “is history but we are not refusing to talk on the subject,” he said.

“We will need to consider and study their proposals; we will be ready for a conversation on this subject. But the conversation will not necessarily result in an agreement because we have fundamental differences,” the diplomat said.

According to him, a dialogue is needed to come up with fundamentally new parameters for the CFE; however, Moscow believes it would be pointless to put forward its proposal under the current conditions. [passage omitted]