Belarus Leaves the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces

May 29, 2024 Hour: 11:40 am

On Wednesday, President Alexandr Lukashenko promulgated the law suspending Belarus’ participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE).

RELATED:

Ukraine Has Lost 40 Percent of Its Power Generation Capacity

In mid-April, this law was approved by the Lower House and then by the Senate. Belarusian leaders consider that their country’s participation, even if formal, in this treaty is meaningless.

The suspension of the Treaty by Belarus means that it will stop informing its signatories about conventional weapons in its territory and will not allow inspection visits.

The decision to suspend the CFE was made in the context of the collapse of the existing conventional arms control system in Europe and the continued escalation of the military and political situation in the region.

#DailyGeo: Poland’s Border Defense Plan Advances – Europe’s New ‘Iron Curtain.’

Poland’s borders with Belarus and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad are to be fortified. This is the largest effort to fortify the eastern flank of the NATO defensive alliance since its founding. pic.twitter.com/GxDxclHqzf

— The American Geographical Society (@AmericanGeo)
May 29, 2024

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) renounced participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe in 1993, the Belarusian Foreign Affairs Ministry recalled.

The CFE was signed in November 1990 in Paris by 16 NATO member states and six Warsaw Pact countries. It came into effect in November 1992. The treaty limits the number of military equipment signatory countries can possess.

In 2007, Russia suspended its participation in the Conventional Armed Forces Treaty and abandoned it definitively in 2023 due to NATO’s direct involvement in the Ukrainian conflict and the entry of Finland into the U.S.-led military alliance.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | The governments of Belarus and Venezuela established a joint high-level commission as part of the development of a 10-year roadmap. pic.twitter.com/bLg36jKZeE

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish)
November 30, 2023