Ex-Foreign Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatseniuk called the “failure of the year” the Russia’s moratorium on the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty.
A.Yatseniuk claimed this in an interview to “Den” daily on 26 December.
“I think it was the failure of the year that Russia decided to drop the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty. I was really concerned about the decision of our partners”, he said.
A.Yatseniuk stressed this treaty concerns Ukraine more than other countries. “Presently the most important is not to involve Ukraine in the internal political processes of Russia”, he said.
He also believes that the failures in the relations with Russia in 2007 are not connected with Ukraine. “I do not see any failures in the Ukrainian-Russian relations that were caused by Ukraine”, he added, stressing that “Ukraine was tolerant, sometimes even more than necessary”.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Russian State Duma voted unanimously for the suspension of the CFE Treaty on November 7. The moratorium was introduced on December 12.
The original treaty was a key agreement of the late Cold War era, and the 1999 revision was aimed at reflecting the shift in the military power balance after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia ratified the updated treaty in 2004, but the United States and other NATO members have refused to follow suit, saying Moscow first must fulfill obligations to withdraw forces from Georgia and from Moldova`s separatist region of Transdnestr.
Putin`s call for a temporary suspension of the treaty coincided with mounting anger in the Kremlin over U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe.
