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Russia Denounces Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has denounced the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, and President Vladimir Putin has appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov as his representative during consideration of this decision by the parliament, according to the relevant decree published on the official legal information portal on Wednesday.
Sputnik
"To appoint Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey ... Ryabkov the official representative of the Russian president when the chambers of Russia's Federal Assembly consider the issue of the denunciation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe by Russia, signed in Paris on November 19, 1990," the document reads.
The original Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was signed at the end of the Cold War by 16 NATO and six Warsaw Pact members. The accord imposed limits on five categories of conventional armaments and military hardware.
An "adapted" version of this Treaty was signed in 1999, but NATO countries did not ratify it. In 2007 Moscow imposed a unilateral moratorium on the Treaty, citing its “irrelevance” over NATO expansion. The complete withdrawal from the agreement took more than fifteen years.
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