[Senate Treaty Document 105-5]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
105th Congress Treaty Doc.
SENATE
1st Session 105-5
_______________________________________________________________________
FLANK DOCUMENT AGREEMENT TO THE CFE TREATY
__________
MESSAGE
from
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
transmitting
THE DOCUMENT AGREED AMONG THE STATES PARTIES TO THE TREATY ON
CONVENTIONAL ARMED FORCES IN EUROPE (CFE) OF NOVEMBER 19, 1990, ADOPTED
AT VIENNA ON MAY 31, 1996 (``THE FLANK DOCUMENT''). THE FLANK DOCUMENT
IS ANNEX A OF THE FINAL DOCUMENT OF THE FIRST CFE REVIEW CONFERENCE
April 7, 1997.--Agreement was read the first time and, together with
the accompanying papers, referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
and ordered to be printed for the use of the Senate
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
----------
The White House, April 7, 1997.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the
Senate, the Document Agreed Among the States Parties to the
Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) of November
19, 1990, which was adopted at Vienna on May 31, 1996 (``the
Flank Document''). The Flank Document is Annex A of the Final
Document of the first CFE Review Conference.
I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the
report of the Department of State on the Flank Document,
together with a section-by-section analysis of the Flank
Document and three documents associated with it that are
relevant to the Senate's consideration: the Understanding on
Details of the Flank Document of 31 May 1996 in Order to
Facilitate its Implementation; the Exchange of Letters between
the U.S. Chief Delegate to the CFE Joint Consultative Group and
the Head of the Delegation of the Russian Federation to the
Joint Consultative Group, dated 25 July 1996; and, the
Extension of Provisional Application of the Document until May
15, 1997. I take this step as a matter of accommodation to the
desires of the Senate and without prejudice to the allocation
of rights and duties under the Constitution.
In transmitting the original CFE Treaty to the Senate in
1991, President Bush said that the CFE Treaty was ``the most
ambitious arms control agreement ever concluded.'' This
landmark treaty has been a source of stability, predictability,
and confidence during a period of historic change in Europe. In
the years since the CFE Treaty was signed, the Soviet Union has
dissolved, the Warsaw Pact has disappeared, and the North
Atlantic Alliance has been transformed. The Treaty has not been
unaffected by these changes--for example, there are 30 CFE
States Parties now, not 22--but the dedication of all Treaty
partners to achieving its full promise is undiminished.
The CFE Treaty has resulted in the verified reduction of
more than 50,000 pieces of heavy military equipment, including
tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery pieces, combat
aircraft, and attack helicopters. By the end of 1996, CFE
states had accepted and conducted more than 2,700 intrusive,
on-site inspections. Contacts between the military
organizations charged with implementing CFE are cooperative and
extensive. The CFE Treaty has helped to transform a world of
two armed camps into a Europe where dividing lines no longer
hold.
The Flank document is part of that process. It is the
culmination of over 2 years of negotiations and months of
intensive discussions with the Russian Federation, Ukraine, our
NATO Allies, and our other CFE Treaty partners. The Flank
Document resolves in a cooperative way the most difficult
problem that arose during the Treaty's first 5 years of
implementation: Russian and Ukrainian concerns about the impact
of the Treaty's equipment limits in the flank zone on their
security and military flexibility. The other Treaty states--
including NATO Allies--agreed that some of those concerns were
reasonable and ought to be addressed.
The Flank Document is the result of a painstaking
multilateral diplomatic effort that had as its main goal the
preservation of the integrity of the CFE Treaty and achievement
of the goals of its mandate. It is a crucial step in adaptation
of the CFE Treaty to the dramatic political changes that have
occurred in Europe since the Treaty was signed. The Flank
Document confirms the importance of subregional constraints on
heavy military equipment. More specifically, it revalidates the
idea, unique to CFE, of limits on the amount of equipment
particular nations in the Treaty area can locate on certain
portions of their own national territory. Timely entry into
force of the Flank document will ensure that these key
principles are not a matter of debate in the negotiations we
have just begun in Vienna to adapt the CFE treaty to new
political realities, including the prospect of an enlarged
NATO.
I believe that entry into force of the CFE Flank Document
is in the best interests of the United States and will
contribute to our broader efforts to establish a new European
security order based on cooperation and shared goals. By
maintaining the integrity of the CFE flank regime, we take a
key step toward our goal of ensuring that the CFE Treaty
continues to play a key role in enhancing military stability
into the 21st century. Therefore, I urge the Senate to give
early and favorable consideration to the Flank document and to
give advice and consent prior to May 15, 1997.
William J. Clinton.
LETTER OF SUBMITTAL
----------
Department of State,
Washington, April 3, 1997.
The President,
The White House.
The President: I have the honor to submit to you, with a
view to transmission to the Senate for its advice and consent,
the Document Agreed Among the States Parties to the Treaty on
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe of November 19, 1990,
adopted at Vienna on May 31, 1996 (``the Flank Document'').
The Flank Document, which is Annex A of the Final Document
of the First Conference to Review the Operation of the Treaty
on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and The Concluding Act
of the Negotiation on Personnel Strength, was adopted at Vienna
on May 31, 1996 by the United States of America and the
Republic Armenia, the Azerbaijan Republic, the Republic of
Belarus, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Republic of Bulgaria,
Canada, the Czech Republic, the Kingdom of Denmark, the French
Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of
Georgia, the Hellenic Republic, the Republic of Hungary, the
Republic of Iceland, the Italian Republic, the Republic of
Kazakstan, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Republic of
Moldova, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway,
the Republic of Poland, the Portuguese Republic, Romania, the
Russian Federation, the Slovak Republic, the Kingdom of Spain,
the Republic of Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the ``States Parties'').
Also enclosed for the information of the Senate, are the
following three documents associated with the Flank Document:
the Understanding on Details of the Flank Document of 31 May
1996 in Order to Facilitate its Implementation; the Exchange of
Letters between the United States Chief Delegate to the CFE
Joint Consultative Group and the Head of Delegation of the
Russian Federation to the Joint Consultative Group, dated 25
July 1996; and, the Extension of Provisional Application of the
Document until May 15, 1997.
Although not submitted for the advice and consent of the
Senate, these three documents are relevant to consideration of
the Flank Document by the Senate.
introduction
On May 31, 1996, the 30 States Parties to the CFE Treaty
concluded the Document Agreed Among the States Parties to the
Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe of November 19,
1990, a legally binding agreement, to resolve the CFE flank
issue. The Flank Document was annexed to the Final Document
issued at the conclusion of the two-week CFE Treaty Review
Conference in Vienna. The Review Conference addressed a variety
of important issues,including implementation of the Treaty and
future adaptation of the Treaty to respond to Europe's changing
political environment. This agreement on the flank issue was the
culmination of months of intensive discussions and negotiations with
the Russian Federation, NATO Allies and other CFE Treaty partners. It
is an important step in ensuring the Treaty's continued viability and
integrity.
The CFE Treaty imposes limits on the number of certain
kinds of treaty-limited equipment (TLE) each of two groups of
states (corresponding to the membership of NATO and the former
Warsaw Pact) may have in the Treaty's ``area of application.''
Article V of the Treaty imposes further limits on the amount of
TLE that may be deployed within the portion of the area of
application commonly known as the flank zone. From early 1993,
Russia argued that the CFE Treaty, which had been negotiated
between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, did not adequately reflect
Russia's security needs in the post-Cold War world.
Specifically, Russia claimed that the regional equipment limits
in the Treaty's flank zone were too restrictive to permit it to
deploy forces to that area adequate to meet its security
concerns for the region, which includes the North Caucasus.
Ukraine also claimed that the Treaty's flank limits were unduly
restrictive and would cause it to incur unreasonable
implementation costs.
NATO Allies did not accept all of Russia's claims
concerning its security problems in the flank zone or the
amount of equipment Moscow said it needed there. The Alliance
did recognize, however, that the significant changes to
political borders in the flank region since the Treaty's
signature in 1990, prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union
and the Warsaw Pact, and Russia's low armored combat vehicle
(ACV) limit in the flank zone, raised legitimate questions that
needed to be addressed.
For over two years, CFE states worked to find a way
acceptable to all Parties to address these concerns about the
flank limits. The resulting Flank Document is based on an
approach that was endorsed by all 30 CFE States Parties in
November 1995 at the Joint Consultative Group (JCG) in Vienna,
which in turn was based on a September 1995 NATO proposal.
key elements of the flank document
The Flank Document has three basic elements: (1) removal of
certain territory from the original flank zone, which reduces
the size of the flank zone (the ``map realignment''); (2)
additional constraints on equipment in the areas removed from
the flank zone through the realignment; and (3) additional
transparency measures for the flank zone and those areas
removed from the flank zone. Under the Flank Document, Russia
must lower its force levels in the region so that its equipment
holdings in the old and new flank zone meet all CFE obligations
by 31 May 1999.
The territorial realignment contained in Section III,
paragraph 1 of the Flank Document removes certain areas in
Russia and Ukraine from the flank zone. Once the Flank Document
enters into force, these areas will be considered to be part of
a different CFE zone and, in addition to the constraints and
enhanced transparency measures outlined above, will be subject
to the limitations on equipment for that zone, rather than the
more restrictive limits of the flank zone.
With regard to Russia, the Flank Document does not permit
any increase in overall holdings of treaty-limited equipment
(TLE) in the total area of application of the Treaty, nor does
it change the equipment limits for the flank zone as specified
in the CFE Treaty. However, after the Flank Document enters
into force, the Treaty's flank limits will apply to a smaller
geographic area than previously, and Russia will have until 31
May 1999 to bring its deployments in the realigned flank zone
into full compliance with the Treaty's flank limits.
The Flank Document contains a commitment, provisionally
applied even before entry into force as of 31 May 1996 through
31 May 1999, by which Russia agrees not to increase its total
equipment holdings in the original flank above levels specified
in the Flank Document, which were those present in the areas as
reported in Russia's January 1, 1996 CFE data submission.
Provisional application of the ``no-increase'' commitment until
May 15, 1997 is based upon the understanding that Russia has
not by virtue of the Flank Document been relieved of its
existing CFE obligations, including its obligations with
respect to its TLE holdings in the flank zone. In particular,
this means that as a legal matter, the U.S. takes the view that
Russia continues to exceed its maximum levels for holdings of
TLE in the flank zone, notwithstanding the Document's provision
that limits Russian flank deployments at January 1996 levels.
Provisional application also benefits the U.S. and NATO Allies
by making the enhanced transparency provisions of the Document
effective immediately and by providing protection against any
increase in Russian deployments in the flank zone prior to
entry into force of the Flank Document. The map realignment has
not been provisionally applied and will not become effective
unless and until approved by all States Parties. In addition to
the Treaty's limits on deployments in the realigned flank zone,
the Document provides for sub-caps on Russian ACVs in specific
regions removed from the flank, as an assurance against
excessive concentrations of ACVs in any one area removed from
the flank zone. The Document also contains provisions that will
provide greater transparency to other CFE states, including
additional inspections, and more frequent data submissions by
Russia and Ukraine.
entry into force
The Flank Document will enter into force when all CFE
States Parties have deposited confirmation of their approval of
the Document with the Government of theKingdom of the
Netherlands. If the Flank Document is not approved by all States
Parties by May 15, 1997, it will be subject to ``review'' by all CFE
States Parties.
Conclusion
Accompanying this Report is a Section-by-Section Analysis
of the Document.
The Flank Document will achieve a basic U.S. objective: to
reaffirm the integrity and effectiveness of the CFE Treaty
amidst Europe's dramatically changing circumstances. It
resolves concerns that had been raised by Russia and Ukraine
regarding the impact of the Treaty's flank zone equipment
limits on their security, particularly in the Caucasus and
Black Sea region, but in a manner other CFE parties can accept
and that reinforces the importance and legitimacy of one of the
Treaty's basic features: regional ceilings. It reaffirms
Russia's commitment to the basic obligations of the Treaty at a
time when there have been some voices in Russia and Ukraine
arguing that the Treaty, negotiated when the Soviet Union and
Warsaw Pact still existed, was outdated in this respect. I
believe that the Flank Document reflects an important step in
preserving European security and will advance the overall
interests of the United States. For this Document to enter into
force, all 30 States Parties to it must notify the Depositary
of their formal approval by May 15, 1997.
I therefore recommend that the Document be transmitted to
the Senate for its advice and consent at the earliest possible
date prior to May 15, 1997.
Respectfully submitted,
Madeleine Albright.
Enclosures: As stated.