MOSCOW, Dec. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- A historic arms control agreement could be purged by Moscow if NATO members continue to drag their feet on ratifying the deal, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanovsaid on Wednesday.

    The Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty was signed in Paris in 1990 between NATO and Warsaw Treaty Organization in a bid to promote peace and security across Europe and the world.

    But Ivanov said: "If the treaty is not ratified by other signatories, Moscow will raise the issue if whether or not this mechanism ... is needed at all."

    To date, only four countries -- Russia, Belarus, the Ukraine and Kazakhstan -- have signed the agreement, while most NATO countries have refused to ratify it amid allegations that Russia has failed to meet commitment on withdrawing its military presence from Georgia and Moldova.

    Ivanov, who is also deputy prime minister of Russia, told the Itar-Tass news agency, "The issue of the CFE Treaty's fate is being raised in connection with the expansion of NATO and US infrastructures to Russian borders. Everybody has signed it, but just four states have ratified the document, including Russia."

    He added that Russia had fully complied with all the restrictions imposed by the CFE Treaty.

    But if Russia feels that other countries do not heed the treaty, it will draw certain conclusions, he said.

    The treaty was redrawn in 1999 in Istanbul and a new agreement was reached following the collapse of the Warsaw Treaty Organization in early 1990s.

    Russian leaders repeatedly stated that the claims by NATO countries have no legal substantiations as Russia had long fulfilled its commitments under the adapted CFE Treaty. Enditem