Belarus halts participation in European military treaty

Sub: IR

Sec: Places in news

Tags: Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), Belarus halts participation in European military treaty

Context:

President Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree suspending Belarus’ participation in a treaty limiting conventional forces in Europe, aligning with Russia’s earlier move.

Details:

Although Belarus is not directly involved in the Ukraine conflict, it hosted Russian troops before Moscow’s military operation against Kyiv in February 2022.
Russia provides financial, military, and diplomatic support to Lukashenko’s regime.

Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE):

The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), first signed by NATO and the Warsaw Pact in 1990, limits the deployment of military equipment between the Atlantic and the Ural Mountains.
- The treaty proposed equal limits for the two “groups of states-parties”, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact.
Russia unilaterally suspended its participation in the CFE treaty in December 2007, calling it outdated.
Russia’s suspension followed Western countries’ and NATO members’ refusal to ratify a 1999 amendment to the treaty, contingent on the withdrawal of Russian forces from Transnistria in Moldova and parts of Georgia.
In 2008, Russia deployed troops to the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin officially confirmed Russia’s exit from the treaty in May 2023.

Belarus bordering countries:

Belarus shares a border with five countries: Poland in the west, Lithuania in the northwest, Latvia and the Russian Federation in the north, northeast and east, and Ukraine in the south.

Source: TH