Belarus suspends role in European conventional arms treaty
A look back at the announcement by Belarus's president, made days before 9 April 2024, on the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.
What did it mean when Belarus moved to step back from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe? By 9 April 2024, the decision was already public: on 5 April 2024, President Alexander Lukashenko announced that Belarus would suspend its participation in the treaty.
The treaty, known as the CFE, was negotiated and concluded in the last years of the Cold War. It set comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment in Europe and required the destruction of excess weaponry. Its limits were equal for two groups of states-parties: NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
A treaty already eroded
By the time of the Belarusian announcement, the agreement had been weakened for years. An Adapted CFE was signed in 1999 to reflect the changed geopolitical situation and the disbanding of the Warsaw Pact, but NATO states declined to ratify it, citing Russia's failure to comply with the Istanbul Commitments. In 2007, Russia suspended its participation, and on 10 March 2015 it announced a complete halt. On 7 November 2023, Russia withdrew from the treaty, and the United States and its NATO allies suspended their own participation in response.
Against that backdrop, the Belarusian step on 5 April 2024 fell within the wider unravelling of the treaty. Almost all other parties have since suspended their participation as well, according to later accounts.
