Russia to Suspend Compliance With Key European Pact

Putin Cites U.S. Missile Defense Plans

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made his clearest rejection yet of speculation that he would try to seek a third term, but gave no hint in his state of the nation address as to whom he sees as his preferred successor. (Mikhail Metzel - AP)

MOSCOW, April 26 -- President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he was suspending Russia's obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, ratcheting up a tense standoff with the NATO alliance over U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe.

The CFE Treaty dates from the last days of the Cold War and limits the deployment of conventional arms, including tanks and other heavy weapons, on either side of the old Iron Curtain. Putin linked his decision, which he said could lead to full withdrawal from the treaty, to the U.S. missile plan.

NATO countries are "building up military bases on our borders and, more than that, they are also planning to station elements of anti-missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic," said Putin, delivering his annual state of the nation address to both houses of parliament, the cabinet and regional leaders. "In this connection, I consider it expedient to declare a moratorium on Russia's implementation of this treaty."

Western governments have contended for years that Russia has not fully complied with the treaty and amendments to it, pointing to force levels it keeps in the Chechnya region and the continuing presence of its troops in the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova. The missile defense plan has raised disputes over the treaty to a new level of intensity.

The Kremlin has expressed deep hostility to the American system despite repeated assurances by the Bush administration that the planned 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and radar station in the Czech Republic would pose no threat to Russia.

U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who visited Moscow this week, have said the system is small and directed against potential threats from Iran, and could be easily overwhelmed by Russia's strategic missile forces. They have said they are open to cooperation with Russia on missile defense.

In a wide-ranging speech that mostly centered on domestic issues, Putin also noted that the next state of the nation address would be given by a new president. He said, however, that "it is premature for me to declare a political will" on who should succeed him.

Russia plans to conduct national parliamentary elections in December, followed by presidential elections in March. Putin warned against any foreign interference in the political process.

"There is a growth in the flow of money from abroad for direct interference in our internal affairs," he said. "There are those who, skillfully using pseudo-democratic rhetoric, would like to return to the recent past -- some to loot the country's national riches, to rob the people and the state; others to strip us of economic and political independence."

He did not name any individuals or countries, but Russian officials have complained about democracy-building projects funded by Western governments. The remarks could also have alluded to Boris Berezovsky, the London-based Russian exile, who recently told a British newspaper that he was working with parts of the political elite in Russia to subvert Putin.

The announcement on the CFE Treaty move appeared to take NATO officials, who are gathering in Oslo for a meeting with their Russian counterparts, by surprise. They said they would be discussing Putin's remarks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"I expect Foreign Minister Lavrov to explain the words of his president," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters in Oslo. "The NATO allies attach great importance to the CFE Treaty."