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Friday November 30, 4:41 PM Putin suspends Russian adherence to Cold War arms treaty: Kremlin Photo: AFP MOSCOW (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a decision to suspend Russia's adherence to a Cold War treaty limiting military forces in Europe, the Kremlin said Friday. The announcement came on the final day of campaigning ahead of parliamentary elections on Sunday in which Putin has accused the West of trying to weaken Russia. A spokeswoman told AFP that Putin's action had suspended Russia's "adherence to the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty." The treaty's demise highlights deteriorating relations between Moscow and NATO countries as Putin's administration pushes to reassert Russia on the international stage. The United States and the European Union on Thursday had urged Russia to not to freeze compliance to CFE. "The EU regards the treaty as the cornerstone of European security and is deeply concerned by the emerging uncertanties about the future viability of the treaty should Russia cease to implement treaty operations," Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado, whose country holds the EU presidency, said in Madrid. Putin had ordered the moratorium in July amid a row over US plans to install an anti-missile shield in eastern Europe. Following Putin's signature, the suspension will enter into force on December 12, but a senior defence ministry official said the decision would not trigger any immediate redeployment of Russian forces on its western flank. "The entry into force of the moratorium does not mean that Russia will immediately start redeploying troops on its flanks," said the unnamed official quoted by the Interfax news agency. "But we reserve the right to move our forces on our territory where we consider them necessary," he said. Earlier this month Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Kolmakov said plans were being considered for boosting troop deployments on western borders, something impossible under the CFE. Signed by NATO members and states of the defunct Warsaw pact, the 1990 CFE treaty places strict limitations on the deployment of tanks and other military hardware across Europe. Moscow says the CFE is not working because an updated version agreed in 1999 to take account of the break-up of the Communist bloc has been ratified by Russia but not by NATO countries. NATO members, led by the United States, say they cannot ratify the pact because Moscow has not fully complied with a related commitment to withdraw its military presence from ex-Soviet Georgia and Moldova. Putin last week warned NATO against "muscle-flexing" on Russia's border and ordered top generals to raise the combat readiness of the country's nuclear missiles. The signing followed votes earlier this month by the country's parliament to suspend compliance, drawing criticism from the West. NATO has expressed regret over Russia's move and members of the US Congress described it as "troubling". Criticising CFE, the speaker of the upper house of parliament and a Putin ally described provisions of the treaty as "absolutely colonial". "Under this agreement, we cannot move a single tank on our own territory," said Sergei Mironov quoted by Interfax. "Russia fulfilled the CFE provisions in good faith while NATO bases sprang up in Romania, Bulgaria and the United States prepared to install its anti-missile defence system along Russia's border," said Mironov. Mironov said Russia could return to the treaty although Western diplomats have questioned how such a return could be achieved.