Conventional Arms Control and Military Confidence-Building with Russia

Abstract

Thirty years after their inception, the European arms control regime and military trust-building stand at a crossroads. Moscow has not been involved in the implementation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty) since December 2007. Revision of the Vienna Document on confidence- and security-building measures has stagnated since 2011. The future of the Open Skies Treaty (OST), too, has been in jeopardy since the United States announced its intent to withdraw from the agreement. Unless political relations between NATO and Russia improve, Europe’s military stability will be weakened still further.