OSLO, April 26 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Thursday that the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) should be ratified, in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement that his country is suspending obligations under the treaty.

    "NATO allies attach great importance to the CFE treaty. They are of the opinion ... that it is important that the CFE treaty will be ratified," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters before the opening of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Oslo.

    He said he expected further clarification of Putin's position from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov when they meet on Thursday afternoon.

    In his annual state-of-the-nation address to the parliament in the Kremlin, Putin said his country is suspending obligations prescribed in the CFE treaty as NATO signatories to the treaty are not honoring their commitments.

    The freeze would continue until every NATO country has approved the treaty and begun to implement it, said Putin, vowing to enhance the country's military strength.

    Moscow is vehemently opposed to U.S. plans to place an anti-ballistic missile shield and a radar system in Poland and the Czech Republic respectively.

    Putin said the U.S. move is a threat to Russia's national security.

    Signed by NATO and the Warsaw Treaty Organization in 1990, the CFE treaty was redrawn in 1999 and a new agreement has been reached.

    The treaty, however, has been signed by only four countries -- Russia, Belarus, the Ukraine and Kazakhstan so far, while most NATO countries have refused to ratify it, accusing Russia of failing to meet its commitment to pulling out military forces from Georgia and Moldova.