Russia stops CFE Joint Consultative Group participation, no link to relations with West - Russian Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax) - The suspension by Russia of its participation in the Joint Consultative Group on the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) is not connected to the current exacerbation of relations between Russia and the Western countries, Mikhail Ulyanov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's department on non-proliferation and arms control issues, said.
"I would not link these things directly," Ulyanov told Interfax on Wednesday.
"This issue first arose a long time ago, long before the Ukrainian crisis, before the current situation in our relations with the West," the diplomat said.
Russia has suspended its participation in meetings of the Joint Consultative Group of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe starting on March 11, 2015, Alexander Mazur, the head of the Russian delegation to the Vienna talks over military security and arms control, said at a plenary session of the Joint Consultative Group on Tuesday.
"Russia has decided to suspend its participation in JCG sessions from March 11, 2015. Thus, the suspension of the CFE treaty announced by Russia in 2007 becomes complete," Russian Foreign Ministry quoted Mazur as saying.
He also asked Belarus to represent Russia's interests at subsequent meetings of the Joint Consultative Group.
