Crisis European arms pact talks end in deadlock

Vienna, June 15 (Reuters) Russia warned it could be driven to suspend its part in a major arms control accord after talks with NATO states ended today without headway in revising a pact seen as vital for stability in Europe.

Russian delegates accused the NATO states of not taking their grievances seriously during the four-day conference of parties to the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty.

NATO envoys said there was a constructive exchange of views.

''This treaty is for all intents and purposes no longer viable,'' Russian delegation chief Anatoly Antonov told reporters in the Austrian capital.

He said Russia wanted more talks but, reiterating earlier warnings by Moscow, added that imposing a moratorium on observing the pact ''will become a very real option'' if dialogue continues to be lead nowhere.

''Sadly not all parties wanted to be constructive, but chose just to trot out the same old positions. We want to see serious talks taking place, not a repetition of old slogans about the importance of the treaty,'' Antonov said.

Adopted in 1990 to help overcome old Cold War tensions, the CFE pact limits the number of battle tanks, heavy artillery, combat aircraft and attack helicopters deployed and stored between the Atlantic and Russia's Ural mountains.

The conference was initiated by Moscow, which is frustrated by the refusal of most NATO countries to ratify an eight-year-old updated version of the pact.

A major source of friction is NATO's insistence on preserving ''flanking arrangements'' which ban large concentrations of forces and materiel near some borders.

Instability Russia objects to that provision because it limits Russian troop movements within Russian territory even though Moscow says its border areas have become more unstable since the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.

Among changes sought by Russia, Antonov said, was an end to ''flanking'' restrictions as well as cuts in NATO troop levels in outlying regions to reflect the accession of eastern European states bordering Russia to the alliance since 1990.

NATO states say treaty changes depend on Russia withdrawing troops from the former Soviet republics of Moldova and Georgia, but Russia rejects any link between the two issues.

The CFE dispute could become another arena for resurging confrontation between Russia and the West. Relations are already strained by disagreements over U.S. plans for a missile shield in eastern Europe and independence for Serbia's Kosovo province.

''Antonov was obviously disappointed that he didn't get a 180 degree turnaround on where the US and other (NATO) countries are on the issues, but I think it was a constructive meeting,'' senior US delegate Karin Look told reporters today.

She urged Russia not to drop the treaty and said threats to do were unpleasantly reminiscent of the old East-West standoff.

''It's part of the sort of Cold War rhetoric..., drumbeat we've been hearing. We hope they don't suspend because it would yet another one of the things raising the temperature of dialogue and continue in the mentality of the Cold War.

Diplomatic sources said the delegations would return home for consultations but no follow-up meeting was planned for now.

In Brussels, NATO officials denied a published report that the alliance offered concessions to Russia on troop numbers along its frontiers. They said NATO was sticking to its position that amendments to the treaty that were agreed in 1999 be ratified before any talks on reworking ''flanking'' arrangements.

REUTERS RS VC2128