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Negotiated and signed during the final years of the Cold War, the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty is often referred to as the "cornerstone of European security." The treaty, signed on November 19, 1990, eliminated the Soviet Union's overwhelming quantitative advantage in conventional weapons in Europe by setting equal limits on the amount of tanks, armored combat vehicles (ACVs), heavy artillery, combat aircraft, and attack helicopters that NATO and the former Warsaw Pact could deploy between the Atlantic Ocean and the Ural Mountains. Designed to prevent either alliance from concentrating forces for launching a blitzkrieg-type offensive, the treaty employs a system of concentric zones mandating smaller deployments of tanks, ACVs, and artillery the closer one moves toward the center of Europe. While the threat of such an offensive all but disappeared with the breakup of the Warsaw Pact and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the treaty states-parties have repeatedly touted the enduring value of the CFE Treaty's weapons limits and inspection regime, which provides an unprecedented degree of transparency on military holdings.
CFE states-parties overhauled the treaty in November 1999, replacing the bloc and zone weapons limits with national and territorial arms ceilings (see The Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty at a Glance), but the original CFE Treaty will remain in force until all states-parties ratify the adaptation agreement. Only Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine have ratified the adapted treaty, although Ukraine has yet to deposit its instrument of ratification. NATO members have conditioned their ratification of the Adapted CFE Treaty on Russia fulfilling pledges to completely withdraw its remaining military forces from Georgia and Moldova. Russia made those political commitments in conjunction with the conclusion of the Adapted CFE Treaty negotiations.
Citing a raft of grievances, including the ongoing delay of the Adapted CFE Treaty’s entry into force, Russia issued a Dec. 12, 2007 statement suspending its implementation of the CFE Treaty. Under the suspension, Moscow stated it will not participate in treaty data exchanges and notifications, as well as inspections. Although noting that it has no plans for arms buildups, the Kremlin declared that it will not be bound by the treaty’s arms limits. NATO members, including the United States, called upon Russia to undo its move and declared their intention to continue implementing the treaty “without prejudice to any future action they might take.” The treaty does not contain a provision for suspension, only withdrawal.
Treaty Limited Equipment (TLE): NATO and the former Warsaw Pact were each limited to 20,000 tanks, 30,000 ACVs, 20,000 heavy artillery pieces, 6,800 combat aircraft, and 2,000 attack helicopters for the treaty's area of application. Member states of each alliance then divided their respective "bloc" limit among themselves, in effect creating national limits. (The Soviet Union's limits were subsequently parceled out among eight of its successor states in May 1992.) To prevent any country from amassing a significant asymmetrical stockpile of weapons, the CFE prohibits a single state from possessing more than a third of the treaty's TLE total.
At the treaty's second review conference, held May 28-June 1, 2001, the 30 CFE states-parties[1] noted that they have reduced more than 59,000 TLE from their arsenals. (This does not include the more than 57,000 weapons that the Soviets moved east of the Urals before signing the treaty. The Soviet Union made a 1991 commitment to destroy 14,500 of these weapons—an obligation assumed and fulfilled by Russia.)
As of January 2007, NATO's 22 current CFE states-parties claimed collective holdings of 61,281 TLE versus a cumulative limit of 101,697 TLE, while Russia reported holdings of 23,266 TLE against limits of 28,216 TLE.[2]
Concentric Zones: The CFE Treaty has four concentric zones capping the deployment of tanks, ACVs, and artillery radiating out from the center of Europe (much like a shooting target). The innermost zone with the smallest limits incorporates Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, while the fourth and largest zone encompasses the entire treaty area. (There are no zone limits for combat aircraft and attack helicopters.)
The Flank Zone: To alleviate concerns that either alliance would launch a flanking maneuver against the other, the treaty placed specific limits on the number of tanks, ACVs, and artillery for Europe's southern and northern flanks, including portions of Russia. Moscow has consistently sought to abolish the flank zone as it considers the limits to be unfair because it is the only country (aside from Ukraine) that has specific limits on where it can deploy TLE in its own territory. Russian concerns were partially met in May 1996 when the CFE parties agreed that Russia's original flank zone limits would apply to a smaller area, while Russia's original flank territory would have larger limits. Moscow's total CFE limits, however, remained the same. Though Russia often has been in noncompliance with its flank limits (even with the higher May 1996 flank limits that entered into force on May 31, 1999), Moscow has remained within its overall treaty limits and has repeatedly stated that its flank noncompliance is only temporary.
Transparency: CFE states-parties have carried out more than 4,000 on-site inspections.
ENDNOTES
1. CFE States-Parties: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
2. Crawford, Dorn. "Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE): A Review and Update of Key Treaty Elements," Arms Control Bureau, Department of State, January 2007. The limits are the entitlements permitted under the original 1990 accord. Under the 1999 Adapted CFE Treaty, the cumulative national weapons limits for NATO members currently bound by the original CFE Treaty equal 92,678 arms.