home > by publication type > must reads > ASIL Insight:Russia Suspends CFE Treaty Participation
Email
| Author: | Duncan B.Hollis |
|---|
July 23, 2007
Why Did Russia Suspend Instead of Withdraw?
Given the problems and complexities posed by Russia’s CFE Treaty suspension, a final question involves why Russia did not simply withdraw from the CFE Treaty. Certainly, international politics may explain the suspension—i.e., Russia wanted to signal its displeasure with the slow pace of ratification of the Adaptation Agreement and/or object to NATO encroachment into certain areas without destroying the CFE Treaty framework entirely.
TAn alternative explanation for Russia’s suspension though may lie in Russian domestic legal requirements. Russia’s participation in the CFE Treaty is governed by the 1995 Federal Law on International Treaties of the Russian Federation.[23] According to the Kremlin’s press release, Article 37(4) of this law governs Russia’s CFE Treaty suspension. That provision authorizes President Putin to suspend certain treaties “in instances requiring the taking of urgent measures,” but it does not authorize a treaty’s termination. Moreover, it requires the President to inform Russia’s legislature of his action and to submit a draft federal law concerning the suspension to the State Duma (if the Duma rejects that law, the treaty immediately resumes operation). Thus, Russia’s decision to suspend rather than terminate the CFE Treaty may have turned on President Putin’s available options under current Russian law; absent further legislative action by the Duma, he has no domestic legal authority to terminate the CFE Treaty, but can only suspend it.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.