Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law on May 29 denouncing the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, according to a Russian government website.
The treaty, originally signed in Paris in November 1990, aimed at arms control and was initially agreed upon by 16 NATO members and six countries of the former Warsaw Pact, including the former USSR. It officially came into effect two years later.
The decision to denounce the treaty holds little practical significance as Russia already suspended its participation in 2007 and fully withdrew from it in 2015.
Russian's ongoing war against Ukraine and other acts of aggression abroad have coincided with repeated public displays of disregard for international agreements aimed at arms control and the maintenance of global order.
On Feb. 21, Putin publicly declared that Russia had suspended its involvement in the New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear reduction treaty between the U.S. and Russia.
Francis Farrell
