Kazakhstan Suspends European Arms Agreement

Kazakhstan is suspending its participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). This decision was signed by the country's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on November 17.

The CFE Treaty was initially signed in November 1990 by 16 NATO countries and 6 members of the Warsaw Pact. The agreement aimed to impose limitations on the number of tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery systems with a caliber of 100 mm or more, combat aircraft, and attack helicopters in the region stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains.

In total, 28 nations joined this treaty. Later, an adapted version of the CFE Treaty was introduced at the OSCE Summit in Istanbul in 1999.

However, only four nations — Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine — ratified the adapted version. In 2007, Russia suspended its participation in the treaty, and in 2023, it fully withdrew from it.

Following Russia’s withdrawal, NATO countries also indefinitely suspended their participation in the CFE Treaty. Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova have made similar decisions.

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