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NATO Accepts Russian CFE Compliance, But Wants More
NATO members informed Russia in July meetings that they accept
its claims of being in compliance with weapons limits set out in
the adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, but
they also urged Moscow to fulfill other CFE-related obligations
regarding Georgia and Moldova.
Since the November 1999 update of the CFE Treaty, the 19-member
alliance had been pressing Moscow to reduce the number of tanks,
armored combat vehicles (ACVs), and artillery it deployed in its
northern and southern “flank” regions, which border Europe
and the Black Sea. As part of the 1999 treaty overhaul, NATO agreed
to relax the limits on the amount of heavy ground weaponry that
Russia could keep in its flank areas, but Russia’s deployments
still remained in excess of what was permitted.
The revised version of the treaty has not yet entered into force
because NATO members conditioned their ratification of the adapted
treaty on Russia complying with the accord’s terms. All 30
states-parties must ratify the adapted treaty for it to replace
the original CFE Treaty, signed in 1990, which currently remains
in force.
Russia declared early this year that it had met the revised limits,
but NATO did not immediately accept the Kremlin’s claim and
set out to verify it. Although NATO members concluded in July that
there were still some uncertainties about Russia’s compliance,
alliance members also found no evidence that Russian forces were
exceeding their flank limits of 1,300 tanks, 2,140 ACVs, and 1,680
artillery pieces.
Despite being satisfied with Moscow’s weapons limit compliance,
NATO members are still waiting before they ratify the adapted treaty
because Russia has not fulfilled additional pledges it gave in November
1999 to withdraw its arms and forces from Georgia and Moldova. Russia
has made some headway on meeting these commitments, but its efforts
have stalled over the past several months.
Russia has disbanded two of its four bases in Georgia, although
Georgian officials are unhappy with the number of Russian troops
currently staying at one of the disbanded bases. Moreover, negotiations
between Georgia and Russia on how long Russian forces could remain
at the two other bases, which were supposed to be completed two
years ago, have reached a stalemate. Georgia insists that Russian
forces be gone within three years, while Russia wants 10 years to
complete its withdrawal.
In Moldova, Russia withdrew all of its tanks, ACVs, and artillery
as pledged, but it is at risk of missing an end-of-2002 deadline
to completely withdraw all of its troops and equipment, including
approximately 40,000 tons of stockpiled ammunition. Russia removed
three trainloads of ammunition and destroyed some last year, but
it has made no further progress since then.
Russia’s inactivity, in large part, stems from an ongoing
conflict within Moldova. Russian troops and ammunition are located
in the Transdniestria region of Moldova, which is under the control
of ethnic Russian separatists, who are blocking Russia’s withdrawal
efforts. The separatists are demanding that Moscow write off a $100
million gas debt before they let Russia resume its withdrawal.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
which is monitoring Russia’s withdrawal, recently reported
that experts estimate that for Russia to successfully complete its
withdrawal from Moldova by the end of the year, Moscow would need
to ship out 20 railroad cars full of ammunition every two days.
An OSCE official noted in an August 21 interview that Russia could
still meet its withdrawal deadline but that “as each day passes,
however, it becomes increasingly difficult.”
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