Putin ramps up pressure over arms treaty

POSTED: 1258 GMT (2058 HKT), April 26, 2007

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MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin called Thursday for imposing a moratorium on Moscow's participation in a key Soviet-era arms control treaty until the United States and other NATO members ratify the agreement.

Putin lamented that Russia had committed to the revised version of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, but "our partners are behaving incorrectly, to say the least," by failing to fulfill the agreement.

"I consider it worthwhile to declare a moratorium until all NATO countries ratify it ... and begin to strictly abide by it," Putin said in his annual state-of-the-nation address.