UPDATE 1-Russia to stop sharing troop moves data with NATO

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Russia said on Thursday it would no longer inform NATO states about movements of troops on its territory, confirming a decision to freeze its commitments under the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty.

"We have announced a moratorium and will not inform anyone any longer about movements of troops on our own territory," Russian news agencies quoted First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying on a visit to Russia's central Bryansk region.

"As long as our partners do not ratify this treaty, we will continue observing the moratorium."

President Vladimir Putin declared a moratorium on the CFE pact last week, escalating a row between the United States and Russia over U.S. plans to build a missile shield in eastern Europe. NATO has expressed grave concerns over the pact freeze.

NATO has for years insisted that Russia withdraw its remaining troops from Georgia and Moldova before its members ratify a revised version of the 1990 pact.

Ambassadors from the 26 NATO countries met their Russian counterpart for a regular meeting in Brussels on Thursday and "firmly and unanimously" rejected Moscow's apparent position on the CFE, a NATO official said.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called for more dialogue on the issue and "he urged that no unilateral and definitive moves should be made", the official said.

Russia's Ivanov said the CFE treaty had been signed during the stand-off between two military blocs -- the Soviet Union-led Warsaw Pact and NATO.

The Warsaw Pact ceased to exist in 1991 together with the fall of communism in central and eastern Europe.

"Why should we still observe the clauses of the treaty unilaterally?" Ivanov said. "We have given up this bloc mentality, while the others have not," he said.

He reiterated Moscow's concerns about the accession of Moscow's erstwhile communist allies and former Soviet Union republics to NATO.

"The movement of (NATO's) military infrastructure towards our borders is actually continuing," he said. (Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Brussels)

Keywords: RUSSIA PACT/

[MOSCOW/Reuters/Finance.cz]