Russia treaty freeze a warning to NATO

"This (freezing CFE compliance) is a signal that this does not suit us."

Western governments say they regret Russia's move on the treaty although they are not sounding the alarm.

"It's not a new Cold War or a new arms race -- there will be no material impact on security," said one Western diplomat. "But there will be a lack of transparency because the verification regime won't operate."

The CFE treaty has a long and tangled history. Signed in 1990 at the end of the Cold War, it secured the reduction or destruction of about 60,000 pieces of equipment and set limits on the conventional forces that remained.

New NATO members in the Baltics are not covered by the treaty. Others that are took with them into NATO their old Warsaw Pact weapons quotas, Russian officials say.

The treaty was revised in 1999 to take account of the changes but Western states have refused to ratify it, arguing that Moscow had not fulfilled a commitment to withdraw its forces from ex-Soviet Moldova and Georgia.

Russia disputes this and says the only troops it has left in the two countries are peacekeepers.

Foreign ministry official Antonov said Russia was still committed to negotiating a solution on the treaty.

"The moratorium is not an aim in itself. It is a way of attracting the attention of our partners," he said. "We are open to dialogue even after December 12."

(Additional reporting by Sophie Walker in London)

(Editing by Robert Woodward)