The treaty, negotiated and ratified during the final years of the Cold War, aimed to set comprehensive limits on major categories of conventional military equipment in Europe, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains, and demanded the destruction weapons beyond the limits of the agreement. .
In his official decision on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the appointment of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as his official representative when discussing the issue of withdrawal from the treaty signed in Paris.
According to experts who spoke to ‘Sky News Arabia’, the treaty was born stillborn, but Russia’s formal withdrawal came in response to NATO’s military expansion in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. relentless US military aid to Kiev in an effort to drain Moscow.
The Russian decision to withdraw from this treaty comes weeks after Putin announced on February 21 the suspension of Russia’s participation in the START treaty.
What is this treaty?
It was signed on November 19, 1990 to limit the size of conventional military forces, which would be massed in Eastern Europe. It included the North Atlantic Treaty Organization “NATO” on the one hand, and the Soviet Union-led “Warsaw Pact” on the other, according to the Britannica website. It includes 30 countries. It entered into force in November 1992. It was updated and an updated version was adopted in 2008. Only 4 out of 30 countries, namely Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, have ratified the new version.
What are the most important terms of the treaty?
It included several conditions to limit the size of tanks, artillery, aircraft and conventional weapons:
Tanks: The maximum each side can muster must not exceed 20,000 tanks, with only 16,500 tanks in combat units. Armored Vehicles: The limit is 30,000 armored vehicles. Artillery: a maximum of 20,000 guns on each side, and the number of guns on the battle fronts does not exceed 17,000. Fighter aircraft: maximum 6,800 aircraft. Attack helicopters: maximum 2,000 aircraft.
Which are the member states of the agreement?
According to the OSCE website, the agreement included dozens of countries, including:
Russia. America. Brittany. France, Belgium, Poland, Denmark, Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands and finally Italy.
What is NATO’s response?
For its part, NATO responded on Wednesday with new plans to defend the lands of its member states.
Christopher Cavoli, commander-in-chief of NATO forces, announced that the alliance is developing new large-scale military plans to defend every inch of its territory. Cavoli, speaking at a press conference following the meeting of NATO’s Military Committee, said that “new political realities require a reorientation of the Alliance’s tasks, of the operations of managing crisis outside NATO’s area of responsibility to large-scale military operations, to defend every inch of its territory.” The alliance’s new regional plans are geographically referenced and aim to protect specific areas belonging to NATO countries, and we seek to improve our ability to deploy our forces in the right place at the right time, according to Cavoli. Chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, confirmed that the alliance’s new military plans “will require the deployment of new forces with a high level of readiness”.
Why did Russia resort to the ruling?
According to experts, this treaty, which was drafted during the existence of the Warsaw Pact, “is outdated and no longer compatible with current reality, especially after the war in Ukraine”.
Russian military expert Vladimir Igor said Moscow had more than once expressed a desire to hold negotiations to draft a new conventional arms control agreement, but had seen no similar move from the West. .
NATO’s refusal to abandon military expansion in Europe and Washington’s withdrawal from a number of important agreements in the field of arms control and control, as well as the endless support of the Ukraine against Russia, all led to a deterioration of relations. What is happening regarding the Ukraine crisis is a proxy war waged by the West against Russia, especially in light of the deployment of additional NATO forces in Europe and near Russian borders and the sending of huge amounts of weapons to Ukraine, which prompted Moscow to abandon previous agreements that no longer serve the security interests of the Russian state.
As for the Russian military expert, Sergei Leonkov, he claims that the West and its direct interference in the Ukrainian war and its attempt to target the Russian president with two marches above the Kremlin violated all the agreements signed with Moscow, noting that “the withdrawal may allow Russia to deploy larger forces regarding Ukraine and strengthen its military presence in some European countries.
He added: “The agreement has lost touch with reality, and it is stillborn, and the strengthening of the eastern front by the alliance has led to a serious deterioration of the security situation in the region.”
According to Leonkov, NATO:
He practices an approach to undermine Russia and shift the balance of power in Europe in his favor. The United States and NATO aim to increase their military presence and activity in Eastern Europe. The alliance aims from the agreements to obtain more information on the Russian army.
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