Belarusian parliament approves suspension of CFE Treaty

MINSK. May 6 (Interfax) - The Belarusian Council of the Republic, the upper chamber of the country's parliament, has approved a bill suspending the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), the chamber's press service said on Monday.

"The bill was drafted in support of Belarusian national interests and in response to the decision of NATO member states to suspend the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe signed in Paris on November 19, 1990," the Council of the Republic said. The chamber added that Belarus fully complied with CFE Treaty obligations and the respective limits on weaponry, military hardware and personnel of the Belarusian Armed Forces.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko agreed in early April to submit a bill suspending the CFE Treaty to parliament.

In August 2022, Czechia announced that it was suspending its obligations to Belarus under the CFE Treaty. Poland made a similar decision in March 2023. Belarus responded to the unfriendly steps of Poland and Czechia in October 2023 by adopting a bill to suspend its CFE Treaty obligations to Poland and Czechia.

The North Atlantic Council said in November 2023 that NATO member states planned to suspend its implementation. Russia also quit the treaty. "The decision of NATO member states and their allies to suspend the treaty actually stops its functioning," the Belarusian presidential administration said at the time.

Suspension of the CFE Treaty does not mean Belarus's withdrawal from the document and the end of related procedures within the Belarusian Armed Forces. However, Minsk will suspend the provision of information about its conventional weapons and hardware and will no longer send or receive inspection teams monitoring compliance with quantitative limitations on conventional weapons and hardware imposed by the treaty.

The CFE Treaty was ratified by Belarus and took effect in 1992. It imposes quantitative limits on conventional weapons and hardware in five main categories (tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery, attack helicopters and warplanes) and introduces verification mechanisms (the exchange of information and inspections).