HC Deb 02 March 1990 vol 168 cc370-1W
Mr. Macdonald

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of the Warsaw pact's armed forces in the Atlantic to the Urals region in the categories of (i) main battle tanks, (ii) other armoured vehicles, (iii) artillery, (iv) anti-tank weapons, (v) combat aircraft and (vi) personnel belong to member states other than the Soviet Union.

Mr. Waldegrave

Updated data on armed forces (which corresponds to agreed definitions) will be exchanged formally on signature of a CFE agreement. Until this is done, it is not possible to say precisely what proportion Soviet forces form of total Warsaw pact forces, but as the figures provided in the NATO booklet "Conventional Forces in Europe: The Facts" show, it is substantial.

Under the sufficiency rule in the CFE negotiations, individual country holdings will be limited to a fixed proportion of total equipment holdings in the area. Under the West's envisaged 30 per cent. limit, the Soviet Union would be entitled to 60 per cent. of the Warsaw pact entitlements (under the eastern 35–40 per cent. limit, 70–80 per cent.). As this sufficiency rule would take effect after parity, it implies the Soviet Union holds more than that proportion now.