The US wanted to squeeze Russia out of the post-Soviet space, hence prevented NATO countries from ratifying the updated CFE Treaty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Parlamentskaya Gazeta in an interview on Monday.
Commenting on why NATO countries did not ratify an updated version of the CFE Treaty back in 1999, he said that the ratification would have hindered Washington's plans. "Washington simply doesn't need an adaptation agreement. For example, it would have forced the US to show us its troop movements across Europe into the Persian Gulf, and they were just preparing aggression against Iraq. And, of course, the main thing for them was to squeeze Russia out of the post-Soviet space. Having realized that they would fail at this, they actually overthrew the adapted CFE Treaty."
The diplomat noted that the document was not approved under a formal pretext, although Russia had fulfilled the necessary conditions. "The formal pretext was a demand that Russia first fulfilled its 'Istanbul obligations'. We fulfilled the provisions concerning the conventional armed forces, but the Americans kept pushing the goalpost further and further. And at some point we realized that this flow of demands is endless," Ryabkov concluded.
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Photo: Federation Council
Based on materials from TASS