Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko agreed to introduce a bill on the suspension of Minsk's participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) to the lower house of the country's parliament, Lukashenko's press service reported on April 5.
The treaty, originally signed in Paris in November 1990, was initially agreed upon by 16 NATO members and six countries of the former Warsaw Pact, including the USSR.
It officially came into effect two years later and was designed to limit the size of Cold War rivals' forces that could be used in a swift offensive.
Belarus ratified the treaty in 1992. Minsk can suspend the CFE, which "does not mean Belarus' withdrawal from it or the cessation of internal procedures in the Armed Forces related to its implementation," according to the draft law.
Russia formally withdrew from the CFE in November 2023, completing a years-long process. In response, NATO announced that it would suspend the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, condemning Moscow's decision.
Poland suspended the CEF in late March. The country formally remains a party to the treaty but will not be obliged to comply with its provisions.
Maria Yeryoma
