The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, signed the law to suspend the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), TASS reported, quoted by BTA.
"To suspend the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe of November 19, 1990”, reads the law, which was approved by the upper house of the Belarusian parliament in early May.
At the beginning of April, the press service of the President of Belarus announced that the head of state had agreed to introduce the draft law on the termination of the CFE Treaty, which Minsk ratified in 1992. It was noted that Minsk fully fulfills its obligations under the treaty .
At the same time, it was recalled that in 2022 the Czech Republic and in 2023 Poland decided not to implement the CFE Treaty with respect to Belarus, which in October 2023 suspended the operation of the treaty with respect to these countries as a retaliatory measure. In addition, in November 2023, NATO countries announced their intention to indefinitely suspend their participation in the CFE Treaty, which, according to Minsk, effectively means the termination of the treaty.
The press service of the President of Belarus noted that the law provides for the termination of the CFE Treaty, but does not mean the withdrawal of the republic from it and the termination of the implementation in the armed forces of the internal procedures related to its implementation.
The Ministry of Defense of Belarus said that Minsk does not plan to repeatedly increase the number of military equipment and weapons in the near future due to the suspension of the agreement.