According to the OSCE, groups of participating states were allowed to possess an equal amount of armaments and equipment.
The Russian Federation officially exited the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) on Tuesday, as reported by Sarbaz.kz citing Reuters.
Russia had accused the United States of undermining security following the end of the Cold War through the expansion of the NATO military alliance.
The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, signed in 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, established verifiable limits on categories of conventional military equipment that NATO and the former Warsaw Pact could deploy. It was designed to prevent either side of the Cold War from amassing forces for a rapid attack on the other in Europe, but it was unpopular in Moscow as it eroded the Soviet Union's conventional arms advantage.
Russia suspended its participation in the treaty in 2007 and ceased active participation in 2015. Over a year after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin, in May, signed a decree denouncing the pact.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Russia officially withdrew from the treaty at midnight.
"The CFE was concluded at the end of the Cold War when the formation of a new architecture of global and European security based on cooperation seemed possible, and the relevant attempts were taken," the ministry's statement reads.
Russia asserted that the U.S. drive for NATO expansion had led the Alliance countries to "openly bypass" the group restrictions of the Treaty and noted that Finland's accession to NATO and Sweden's statement meant that the treaty was dead.
After Russia announced its intention to exit the CFE Treaty this year, NATO condemned the decision, stating that it undermines security.
