MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin accused NATO of “muscle-flexing” near Russia’s frontiers Tuesday and said Moscow would suspend its obligations under a key European arms treaty.
Putin’s statement came amid tensions between Russia and the West, and it reflected the increasingly assertive posture taken by the Kremlin ahead of Dec. 2 parliamentary elections.
“In violation of previous agreements, military resources of NATO members are being built up next to our borders,” Putin told a meeting of military officials. “Of course, we cannot allow ourselves to remain indifferent to this obvious muscle-flexing.”
Putin also gave senior generals a dressing-down over the military’s poor living conditions — remarks apparently aimed at winning the hearts of military voters less than two weeks before the election.
Disputes between Russia and the West have multiplied in recent years, with military disagreements topping the list. U.S. plans to establish missile-defense sites in Eastern Europe have provoked a harsh reaction from Moscow, which has long been concerned about the expansion of NATO into former Soviet republics and former Soviet-bloc states.
Putin said the suspension of Russia’s obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, or CFE, which limits the deployment of tanks, aircraft and heavy conventional weapons across the continent, was part of Russia’s response.
Russia’s parliament has endorsed the suspension, scheduled to take effect Dec. 12.
NATO spokesman James Appathurai dismissed Putin’s criticism.
“All NATO members continue to abide by the restrictions on the numbers and movements of equipment like tanks and aircraft, which the CFE treaty requires, even if it hasn’t entered into force, so there is no need to talk about muscle-flexing,” he said.
The 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, which originally set limits on the weapons of NATO and Warsaw Pact countries, was revised in 1999. Russia says the old version has lost relevance because former Soviet satellites have joined NATO. Russia ratified an updated treaty in 2004, but the U.S. and other NATO members have refused to follow suit, saying Moscow first must withdraw forces from Georgia and from Moldova’s separatist Trans-Dniester region.
