President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has given his consent to the introduction of the draft law "On Suspension of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe" in the House of Representatives. But this does not mean Belarus' withdrawal from the agreement. And the Armed Forces are not going to stop the procedures related to its implementation.
The treaty was ratified by Belarus and entered into force in 1992. The essence of the CFE Treaty is that certain quotas on the number of personnel, weapons and military equipment for each state are established, as well as measures to control compliance with these limits. But since 2020, many EU countries do not accept inspectors from Belarus, thus violating the terms of the treaty. In addition, not all European countries have signed this condition.
Valery Revenko, Head of the Department of International Military Cooperation, Assistant to the Minister of Defense of Belarus on international military cooperation:
The year 2020 was marked by the beginning of the pandemic. And a number of Western states suspended their implementation of the CFE Treaty. Covid was a very good excuse for them to ensure the build-up of their forces, personnel, including of foreign states. Since 2022, practically all the countries of the NATO bloc have ignored the implementation of certain clauses of this treaty.
