August M
Moscow has taken another step away from Western security cooperation, ending a series of long-standing military agreements signed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The move underlines the steady erosion of ties between Russia and NATO countries.
The decision follows similar actions announced earlier this month and comes amid deepening confrontation between Russia and the West.
Decree published
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a decree ordering the cancellation of multiple military cooperation agreements with 11 Western countries, including Germany, Great Britain, Poland and Romania.
The order was published on Friday on the Russian government’s official portal for regulatory acts, according to Bulgaria’s Novinite.com, and was reported by Reuters and other outlets.
Among the agreements terminated are defense cooperation pacts signed with Germany and Poland in 1993, as well as an accord with Norway concluded in December 1995.
List of states
Russia is also ending military cooperation agreements with Bulgaria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Croatia, Belgium and the Czech Republic. Novinite recalled that Bulgaria and Russia signed a Treaty of Friendly Relations and Cooperation in August 1992, which shaped bilateral ties in the immediate post-Cold War period.
The agreement with Romania dates back to March 28, 1994, while the pact with Great Britain was signed in March 1997. Other agreements were concluded between 1997 and 2002.
According to Russia’s state news agency TASS, the cancellations reflect “a significant reduction in official defense collaborations between Russia and Western allies.”
Growing distance
The Kremlin’s decision highlights what analysts describe as Russia’s increasing distance from the West in matters of security and military-technical cooperation.
Two weeks earlier, Russian authorities announced the termination of similar agreements with Portugal, France, and Canada. Those accords, signed between 1989 and 2000, were described by officials as “no longer strategically relevant,” reports HotNews.ro.
Euronews and Rador Radio Romania noted that the agreements were concluded during a period of improving relations after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.
Escalating rhetoric
Since then, the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin have adopted a more confrontational stance toward NATO, accusing the alliance of encroaching on Russia’s borders and of provoking the war in Ukraine, without providing evidence.
In July, Mishustin also canceled a 1996 military-technical cooperation agreement with Germany. Russia’s foreign ministry accused Berlin of pursuing an “openly hostile policy” and “increasingly aggressive militaristic aspirations.”
Sources: Reuters, Novinite.com, TASS, Euronews, Rador Radio Romania
