Belarus’ Defence Ministry on CFE Treaty suspension

The Chief of the International Military Co-operation Department – Assistant to the Defence Minister for Foreign Military Policy, Major General Valery Revenko, explained that the CFE Treaty establishes certain quotas for the number of personnel, weapons and military equipment for each state, as well as measures to monitor the compliance with these limits

Under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), the aggregate number of military personnel for Belarus shouldn’t exceed 100,000 troops. In addition, our country can hold no more than 1,800 battle tanks, 2,600 armoured combat vehicles, 1,615 units of artillery, 294 combat aircraft and 80 attack helicopters.

“The suspension of the CFE Treaty primarily means for the Republic of Belarus the suspension of limits or allocated quota for personnel, weapons and military equipment, as well as the refusal of control measures carried out in relation to a foreign state and directly in relation to the Republic Belarus from foreign countries. As for quotas and limits, the number of personnel in our Armed Forces has been 65,000 for a long time. As far as weapons and military equipment are concerned, no multiple increase or any changes are expected in the near future. Speaking about inspection activities, today, unfortunately, the situation has developed that Western countries are ignoring the implementation of the CFE Treaty. We also cannot inspect foreign states, since they have created such a situation that they do not accept our inspections,” commented Valery Revenko.