St. Petersburg, May 25 (IANS): The upper house of the parliament of Russia announced on social media that its senators approved a bill on the denunciation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE).

On May 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted a draft law on the denunciation of the CFE Treaty to the lower house of the parliament. The chamber adopted a law on the denunciation of the treaty at a session on May 16, Xinhua news agency reported.

The CFE Treaty was originally signed in 1990 by the then-NATO members and former six Warsaw Treaty states and came into force later in 1992. The treaty introduced limits on major types of conventional military equipment in Europe and provided for the destruction of surplus weapons.

In 1999, an updated version of the treaty was signed, but it was ratified by only four countries -- Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. In 2007, Russia suspended its participation in the CFE Treaty until NATO countries ratify its updated version.