Russia's first deputy PM backs proposed freeze on key arms treaty

Moscow, 26 April: First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov considers the position on the Conventional Forces in Europe [CFE] Treaty voiced by the Russian president in his address [to parliament] to be quite natural and well justified.

"Why should Russia unilaterally honour its commitments at a time when other countries are using various pretexts not to assume these commitments?" he said on Thursday in answer to journalists' question.

"It is impossible to imagine a situation where the US president, the supreme commander-in-chief, is unable to move even a single brigade from Texas to California because of restrictions that are not faced by other countries," he said.

If Ivanov (or anyone else in the Kremlin) seriously believes that pulling Russian forces from Moldova and Georgia - as agreed to in the CFE - is the same as the US moving units from Texas and California, there are interesting times ahead for some former Soviet republics.

If Moscow believes even 1% of its propaganda, then the world is in for a rough ride.

Putin so covets totalitarian power and wants to reinstate the sham of communism to get it.

If it weren’t for nationality problems, Hillary would consider him as a running mate.

"If Moscow believes even 1% of its propaganda, then the world is in for a rough ride."
Anyone "lepyashchij chernukhu", i.e. [in this case] doing these propaganda exercises, ends up believing one's own BS. It extends way higher than 1%, and does not take that much time, either. Why, when defending my doctoral thesis, I caught myself almost believing it - but I caught myself just in time.

That's a distortion of the treaty. It actually does limit movement of armament wholly within the Russian Federation, not just in former USSR republics. Here is a portion:

"... The Russian Federation shall limit its battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, and artillery so that, no later than 31 May 1999 and thereafter, the aggregate numbers do not exceed:
(A) 1,800 battle tanks;
(B) 3,700 armoured combat vehicles, of which no more than 552 shall be located within the Astrakhan oblast; no more than 552 shall be located within the Volgograd oblast; no more than 310 shall be located within the eastern part of the Rostov oblast ... and no more than 600 shall be located within the Pskov oblast ..."

Would the US accept terms of a treaty limiting the number of tanks that could be moved from Fort Riley to Fort Hood?

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