"We expect that our partners will promptly carry out their national ratification procedures," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a law ratifying the CFE treaty, which was passed by the State Duma lower house of parliament last month, and by the Federation Council upper house of parliament earlier this month.

In 1999, 30 countries, including the United States and Russia, signed in Istanbul an updated version of the 1990 CFE treaty limiting conventional forces in Europe, a pact designed to eliminate the risk of surprise attacks.

The treaty was intended to defuse tension in Europe during the Cold War.

However final ratification has been regularly put back amid disagreements between Moscow and Washington over whether Russia had fully met commitments it undertook at the Istanbul meeting to withdraw its troops from the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova.

The foreign ministry also said it trusted new NATO members, including the three Baltic states, would soon sign the CFE.

"We stress the intentions of the Baltic countries and Slovenia, as recorded in the Russia-NATO council, to join the adapted treaty after it comes into force," the statement said.

"We also expect that those countries will comply with its goals and principles before they join the treaty," the statement added.

Russia is furious that the new members of NATO, including the three Baltic states, have not signed up to the agreement, meaning that the alliance could theoretically station an unlimited number of troops on Russia's border.

The Baltics were part of the Soviet Union when the CFE was first signed, and not independently covered by the agreement.

A State Duma document adopted together with the CFE last month called on other European nations to quickly adopt the treaty.

WAR.WIRE