BELGIUM: NATO and Russian defence chiefs fail to resolve a row over a European arms control pact

NATO and Russian defence chiefs fail to resolve a row over a European arms control pact that has added to worsening relations between Moscow and the West. Top Russian General Yuri Baluyevski said at NATO headquarters on Thursday (May 10) that the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty was on the verge of collapse. He also accused the United States of trying to build a new Berlin wall across Europe with its missile defence plan. Baluyevski, Chief of the Russian General Staff, speaking after a 3-yearly meeting of NATO's military meeting of chiefs of defence staff, said Iran was not a threat and that Russia did not want to see a resurgence of the Cold War in the shape of the missile defence shield. "Today we are offered without the assessment of threat having accepted them on a hypothetical level and this is the threat coming from Iran, as I mentioned to you, it is suggested to us that we should build new Berlin walls in Europe. We are against it in Russia, we don't see such a threat existing today and there is no threat that would allow us to move towards what we are against," Baluyevski said. U.S. officials say the shield is needed to defend against attacks from "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea. Russian defence officials say Iran does not have intercontinental ballistic missiles to fire and that the shield is directed against Russia. Baluyevski said Iran's missile range was simply not long enough for it to be considered a serious threat. "Speaking about the current capabilities of Iran in this area I would like to underscore that they are limited to the creation and commissioning of ballistic missiles with a range of fire less than 2000 kilometres," he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month in his annual state of the nation speech that Russia would suspend its obligations under the CFE Treaty. Analysts said Putin was upping the stakes in a stand-off with the United States over Washington's plans to deploy parts of a missile shield in Soviet-satellite-turned-NATO-members Poland and the Czech Republic. Baluyevski denied on Monday (May 7) the two were linked. The CFE treaty sets limits on the quantity, type and location of conventional armaments countries on either side of the old Iron Curtain can maintain. Putin said it was an anachronism that Russia should be restricted in how it can deploy its armed forces, while NATO countries used pretexts to bend the terms of the treaty. The top general says the CFE was on the verge of collapse. Baluyevsky has said Russia would plan to counter the missile defence system if it is deployed. Russia last week said it would no longer inform NATO states about movements of troops on its territory, confirming the decision to freeze its commitments under the treaty. NATO has for years insisted that Russia withdraw its remaining troops from Georgia and Moldova before its members ratify a revised version of the 1990 pact.

ITN Source | May 11, 2007

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