NATO plays down Russia CFE threats

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO played down the significance of a Russian call on Wednesday for a new agreement to replace a stalled treaty on limiting armed forces in post-Cold War Europe which Moscow has said it will suspend.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said it was hard to keep up with different Russian positions on the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, adding: "Let's not overdramatise this. Let us have a sober discussion."

He described as "unhelpful" comments by the head of the Russian Defence Ministry's international agreements department, Yevgeny Buzhinsky, that there was no reason for a conference proposed by NATO to discuss the future of the CFE treaty.

President Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday that Russia would suspend its participation in the CFE treaty from mid-December in apparent retaliation for U.S. plans to base part of an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Appathurai said the 26-nation Western defence alliance would continue to abide by the treaty even though its members have not ratified its updated version because they insist Russia must first make good on an agreement to withdraw its forces from the former Soviet republic of Moldova.

The CFE treaty limits the deployment of heavy weapons such as tanks and helicopters, but Appathurai noted that Moscow had said it had no intention of moving its forces westwards.

He acknowledged the temperature had risen in disputes between Moscow and the West over Kosovo, missile defence and the treaty, but he said talk of a new Cold War was wrong.

"There are a number of issues that grate," the spokesman said, but he noted that Moscow was still committed to solving differences through dialogue in contrast to its walkout over the 1999 NATO air campaign to drive Serbian forces out of Kosovo.

"Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Let's continue to have a relationship even though it is not easy."

Stressing the positive, Appathurai cited intelligence sharing, regular meetings at NATO headquarters, Russian military vessels patrolling the Mediterranean alongside NATO warships in the hunt for terrorists and joint work on missile defence.