Putin withdraws Russia from Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe

Russian media reported the information.  

The bill to denounce the treaty was introduced to the State Duma on May 10 by Putin himself. He argued the need to denounce the document by saying that the treaty "is largely outdated and has lost touch with reality due to NATO expansion." 

On May 16, the State Duma supported the law, and on May 24, the Federation Council did as well.

The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe was signed on November 19, 1990 in Paris. It was signed by representatives of 16 NATO member states (the US, Canada, the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Turkey) and six Warsaw Pact member states (the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia). The document entered into force on November 9, 1992. 

The treaty established quotas for the number of battle tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, attack helicopters, and combat aircraft. Russia suspended its participation in the treaty in July 2007 because NATO allegedly refused to ratify the updated version of the document.