Russia pulls out of security agreement with Lithuania

  • 2014-05-06
  • From wire reports, VILNIUS

On Monday, May 5, Lithuania's Ministry of National Defense received a notice from the Russian Federation, stating that Russia was unilaterally suspending the 2001 bilateral Lithuanian-Russian agreement on additional confidence and security-building measures, reports ELTA.

The said agreement stipulated that the two countries will exchange information about their armed forces and will conduct bilateral military inspections. It was agreed to use the format of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which Lithuania does not participate in, for the exchange of information, and carry out inspections under the conditions of the Vienna Document. On the Russian side, the agreement applied to its forces in Kaliningrad.

Since 2001, the exchange of information between the states has been taking place smoothly; however, after the Russian Federation imposed a moratorium on the CFE in 2007, it stopped providing information, though bilateral inspections continued.

According to the Ministry of National Defense, Lithuania has implemented all conditions of the agreement and has not given Russia a pretext for such a move.