Expert on Belarus’ suspension of CFE Treaty: it’s normal response to NATO actions

The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, agreed to submit a draft law On Suspension of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, and experts explained why there is nothing extraordinary in such a decision

The treaty entered into force in 1992 and, a few years later, it was violated by the North Atlantic Alliance. Russia withdrew in 2023, and Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and other NATO members also declared the suspension.

“To make it clear to everyone, the suspension of Belarus’ participation in this agreement is not something extraordinary: it is a normal response to NATO actions. In addition, it is an opportunity to possess the weapons that we consider necessary to have today in order to defend ourselves qualitatively if necessary," Olga Shpilevskaya, the Director of the Mir TV and Radio Company representative office in Belarus and Chairperson of the Belarusian Women’s Union, said during a discussion broadcast by the Belarus 1 TV channel.

In turn, Aleksei Belyaev, the Dean of the Journalism Department at the Belarusian State University, added that Belarus, unlike NATO countries, is used to fulfilling its obligations, “In our logic of political action, the execution of contracts has always been a priority. Belarus always follows the obligations it signs. If we look at how the global security architecture was being destroyed, initially our Western ex-partners always withdrew from all agreements, then we just had to make reciprocal decisions.”