The State Department announced today that the United States will stop implementing some of its obligations under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, described by many analysts as “the cornerstone of European security.”
The United States will no longer allow Russian inspections at U.S. military sites in Europe, and it will no longer give Russia information on its conventional military forces on the continent.
The move comes four years after Russia also stopped implementing the same treaty obligations, citing its opposition to U.S. plans to build an anti-missile shield in eastern Europe. At Tuesday’s daily press briefing, spokesperson Victoria Nuland said that the State Department hoped the action would “crystallize the mind in terms of our ability to get back to the table.”
Nuland also said that she expected “many, if not all” NATO members to follow the U.S.’ lead in ceasing cooperation with Russia under the treaty.
In a written statement, the Department said that the U.S. would “voluntarily” inform the Russian government about “any significant change in our force posture in Europe,” and that the U.S. would not violate the treaty’s “numerical limits on conventional armaments.”
“We will resume full Treaty implementation regarding Russia if Russia resumes implementation of its Treaty obligations,” the statement reads.
The Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe was signed by thirty nations in 1990, near the end of the Cold War, and sets limits on the sizes of military forces stationed in Europe.
An updated version of the treaty was signed in 1999, but most NATO member states refused to ratify the update until Russia withdrew its troops from disputed regions in the former Soviet republics of Moldova and Georgia.
U.S.-Russian relations have deteriorated significantly in the past decade over disagreements on the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the U.S.’s proposed missile defense system, and Russia’s 2008 war with its southern neighbor Georgia, a U.S. ally.
After becoming Secretary of State in 2009, Hillary Clinton announced a “reset” in the U.S.-Russian relationship, and earlier this year, the U.S. and Russia signed a major new agreement on nuclear weapons, known as the “New Start” treaty.
But the today’s announcement indicates that key disagreements are still disrupting the former adversaries’ relationship.
Nuland stated that the “reset” initiative was intended to enable the U.S. and Russia to expand cooperation, and pointed to the New Start treaty and improved cooperation on Afghanistan and Iran as positive examples.
At the same time, Nuland emphasized the importance of being “clear and honest about disagreements and differences” between the two nations.