Leaders of 30 nations signed a landmark arms control treaty on the last day the OSCE summit on Friday

November 19, 1999
Web posted at: 2:56 a.m. EST (0756 GMT)

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Reuters) -- Leaders of 30 nations signed a new conventional arms control treaty for Europe on Friday, updating limits on armed forces and heavy equipment set at the end of the Cold War.

President Bill Clinton signed the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty for the United States, and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov for Russia after President Boris Yeltsin flew home early from the summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The treaty was the first of four documents to be adopted at the summit, including a European Security Charter setting out the principles and role of the OSCE for the 21st century, a final declaration that will give the OSCE a role in Chechnya and a document on confidence and security-building measures.

The CFE treaty, designed to rule out the risk of a surprise attack, sets limits on conventional forces on a national basis instead of the bloc-to-bloc totals set in the 1990 document, opening the agreement for signature by states other than from NATO or the former Warsaw Pact.

Turkish President Suleyman Demirel referred obliquely in a speech to the fact that Russia is in breach of the treaty in its military offensive in Chechnya, saying: "The full implementation of the present treaty...is crucially important until the agreement signed today comes into force."

The treaty sets ceilings on five major categories of military equipment -- battle tanks, artillery pieces, armoured combat vehicles, combat aircraft and attack helicopters.

It also limits the forces that countries can deploy in flank regions such as the Caucasus, a provision which Moscow admits it is breaching.

Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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