EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT DISAPPOINTED AT RUSSIA’S ANNOUNCEMENT TO SUSPEND CFE PARTICIPATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.04.2007 15:15 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso
expressed disappointment Friday at Russia’s announcement that it was
suspending its participation in an arms treaty limiting the number
of military forces in Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Putin stunned Western capitals
Thursday when he announced the suspension of Moscow’s participation
in the Soviet-era Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty.

"The announcement regarding CFE was, as others have said,
disappointing," Barroso said at the United Nations after meeting with
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"It is sending a signal that is not the best signal, not the most
helpful for the kind of relations that we in Europe want to have with
Russia," he said.

"We in the European Commission will stay interested in developing
constructive, positive, strategic relations with Russia. Of course,
there are sometimes some difficulties, but I believe that we can
deal with those difficulties in a global, positive and constructive
framework," Barroso added.

He indicated he would address the issue during a regular EU-Russia
summit in Samara, Russia next month.

The accord was signed on November 19, 1990 in Paris by the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact and modified
in 1999 after the fall of the Soviet Union and the East bloc.

NATO called for clarification on Friday.

Putin said the suspension was in response to U.S. plans to deploy an
anti-missile system in Eastern Europe.

Barroso said that "regarding specific issues now about missiles,
those should have been dealt with in other fora, and we support all
efforts to create the best possible atmosphere between the European
Union and Russia," reports

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress