Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signaled that Russia was on a new and explosive collision course with NATO when he dumped a key arms control treaty limiting the deployment of conventional forces in Europe.
Putin said that Moscow was unilaterally withdrawing from the Soviet-era Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty because of "extraordinary circumstances that affect the security of the Russian Federation," the Kremlin said. These required "immediate measures," it said.
The treaty governs where NATO and Russia can station their troops in Europe. Moscow's decision to bin it suggested that Putin's talks this month with US President George W. Bush had come to nothing, and that the Kremlin had reverted to its earlier belligerent mood. The Kremlin has been incensed by the Bush administration's decision to deploy elements of its missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Putin has derided US claims that the Pentagon system is designed to shoot down rogue missiles fired by North Korea and Iran, and says the target is Russia.
Last month he said the US could use a former Soviet radar system in Azerbaijan instead. But during the summit with Putin in Maine, Bush rejected this offer -- a snub that appeared to have triggered Putin's gesture.
Putin's decision to leave the treaty will come into effect in 150 days after the parties of the treaty have been notified.
It came against a backdrop of rapidly deteriorating relations between Russia and the West. In particular, Russia's relations with Britain are at their lowest point since the 1970s following Moscow's refusal last week to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the former KGB agent charged with poisoning Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London.
The Kremlin insisted, however, it had been left little choice over the treaty. The Foreign Ministry called the treaty "hopelessly outdated." It said restrictions on Russian troop deployment were now "senseless" and prevented "more efficient measures against international terrorism." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia could no longer tolerate a situation where it had ratified and its partners had not.
Under the treaty, signed by the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990, Russia agreed to scrap much of its military hardware in Eastern Europe and limit the number of troops stationed on its northern and southern flanks.
The treaty was amended in 1999, calling on Russia to withdraw its troops from the former Soviet republics of Moldova and Georgia. Russia ratified the treaty but did not pull out its troops, prompting the US and other NATO members to refuse to ratify the treaty until Russia withdrew.
Analysts said that Putin's move would probably not make much difference to Russia's military capacities, but it would allow Russian generals to carry out exercises without informing their Western counterparts and keep Russian troops in the breakaway regions of Georgia and Moldova.
Also see story:
US, EU concerned over Kremlin move to drop arms treaty
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS