On 19 November 1990, at Paris, the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, with protocols, was signed. Twenty-two States: the group of the 1955 Warsaw Treaty (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the USSR) and the group of the 1948 Brussels Treaty or the 1949 Washington Treaty (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States). English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish, equally authentic. Depositary: the Government of the Netherlands. It is not the 1999 Adapted CFE Treaty and not the Vienna Document.

The preamble: the Mandate of 10 January 1989; negotiations in Vienna from 9 March 1989, within the CSCE; refrain from the threat or use of force; replacement of military confrontation; a secure and stable balance at lower levels; elimination of disparities and, as a high priority, of the capability for surprise attack and large-scale offensive action. Overall numbers aimed at in the area: 40,000 battle tanks, 60,000 armoured combat vehicles, 40,000 pieces of artillery, 13,600 combat aircraft, 4,000 attack helicopters. Article I: five categories — battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, artillery, combat aircraft, combat helicopters; the protocols (existing types, recategorisation, reduction, information, inspection, Joint Consultative Group, provisional application) form an integral part of the Treaty.

Article II: the area of application is the entire land territory of the States Parties in Europe from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains, including European island territories (the Faroes, Svalbard, the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya); for the USSR, all territory west of the Ural River and the Caspian Sea; for Turkey, north and west of a line from the 39th parallel to the sea. Article IV: 40 months after entry into force, each group shall not exceed 20,000 battle tanks (no more than 16,500 in active units), 30,000 armoured combat vehicles (no more than 27,300 in active units; of the 30,000, no more than 18,000 infantry fighting vehicles and heavy armament combat vehicles, of which no more than 1,500 heavy armament combat vehicles), 20,000 pieces of artillery (no more than 17,000 in active units), 6,800 combat aircraft, 2,000 attack helicopters. Nested sub-zones with tighter ceilings. Article V: the flanks (Bulgaria, Greece, Iceland, Norway, Romania, Turkey within the area, the Soviet Leningrad, Odessa, Transcaucasus and North Caucasus Military Districts) — the difference between IV.1 and IV.2 in active units.

Article VIII: reductions only in accordance with the Protocol on Reduction; inspection without right of refusal at reduction sites. Article XIV: the right to conduct and the obligation to accept inspections in the area of application — verification of the ceilings, monitoring of reduction, certification of recategorisation; a State Party shall not exercise those rights in respect of States of its own group in order to elude the verification regime. Article XV: national or multinational technical means; no interference and no concealment that impedes verification, other than normal training, maintenance or operations. Article XVI: a Joint Consultative Group.

Article XIX: withdrawal if extraordinary events related to the subject matter have jeopardised supreme interests; notice at least 150 days prior. Article XXI: a review conference 46 months after entry into force, and at five-year intervals thereafter; an extraordinary conference if a State Party announces that it intends to leave its group or join the other. Article XXII: ratification; entry into force 10 days after deposit of instruments by all States listed in the Preamble. The United Nations Treaty Series records 9 November 1992, No. 44001. Article XXIII: the original deposited with the Depositary.

Palais de l'Élysée, Paris. The city of the CSCE summit, not the confirmed signing hall. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

For context: Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. The text: OSCE, Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.