The agreement provides for limited deployment of conventional armaments in the territory of the parties to the treaty.
The document was submitted to the lower chamber by the Russian president in February 2002.
The treaty has already been signed by about 30 European states, the USA and Canada.
At the same time, it has been ratified by only three countries, including the Ukraine, Byelorussia and Kazakhstan.
Introducing the document at the lower chamber's session, Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the State Duma's International Committee, emphasized that the ratification of the Treaty would promote higher stability in terms of the conventional armaments in Europe and reduce the negative consequences for Russia's security related to NATO expansion.
He explained that implementation of the adjusted treaty would significantly reduce the conventional armaments potential of the large, in terms of military capabilities, armed forces of the European countries, USA and Canada and lessen their offensive capabilities.
According to Mr. Kosachev, the total national armaments levels reduction of the 19 NATO states as compared to the current levels would amount to: tanks - about 4,800, armored combat vehicles - 4,000, artillery - over 4,000, which corresponds to the armaments of approximately 10 mobilized NATO-standard divisions.
At the same time, the entry of the agreement into effect does not entail automatic national armaments level reduction for Russia, since Russia's conventional armaments deployment standards comply with the treaty provisions.
The CFE Treaty was signed in Paris on November 19, 1990. The applicable area is the ground territory of the parties (NATO states, former Warsaw Pact states, and CIS states) in Europe from the Atlantic Ocean to the Urals.
The recent military and political developments in Europe conditioned the need to adjust the CFE Treaty to the new situation. Conducted on Russia's initiative in 1996-1997 were the talks on the CFE Treaty adjustment, which resulted in signing the Agreement on the CFE Treaty adjustment in Istanbul on November 19, 1999.
The main thing in the adjusted CFE Treaty is the transformation of the Treaty's zone-group basis (depending on participation in the Cold War military alliances) to the system of national (for all conventional armaments categories) and territorial (for all ground forces) levels for all the parties.
The adjusted CFE Treaty is aimed at strengthening security of all the parties, irrespective of participation in military-political alliances.
