RUSSIA: DUMA RATIFIES AGREEMENT ON CFE TREATY ADAPTATION

Interfax-AVN military news agency web site
25 Jun 04

MOSCOW

The State Duma voted 355-28 with two abstentions today to ratify the
agreement on the adaptation of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
(CFE) Treaty, which was signed in Istanbul in November 1999.

An explanatory note to the document says the treaty must be ratified
by all 30 signatory countries to take effect. The Adapted CFE Treaty
will significantly reduce the conventional arsenals of Europe’s most
powerful nations, as well as the United States and Canada.

“The overall number of tanks to be reduced in NATO’s 19 nations will
total 4,800, armoured personnel carriers 4,000, and artillery pieces
4,000, which is equivalent to the arsenal of nearly one dozen
motorized divisions equipped under NATO standards,” the note
reads. The treaty’s enactment will not lead to any automatic cut in
Russia’s arsenal. Under CFE Treaty requirements, Russia will be
allowed to have 6,350 tanks, 11,280 armoured personnel carriers, 6,315
artillery pieces, 3,416 combat aircraft, and 885 helicopter gunships.

The adapted CFE Treaty will allow Russia to keep its weapons and
military hardware in Armenia and Ukraine. Bilateral agreements with
Georgia will enable Russia to keep its 153 tanks, 241 armoured
personnel carriers, and 140 artillery pieces in that country.