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NATO, Russia to Create New Council
December 7, 2001
By JEFFREY ULBRICH
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - NATO and Russia agreed Friday to draw closer in the interest of greater security for all, starting work on a new council to solve common problems ranging from civil emergencies to missile defense.
``We have turned an important corner in NATO-Russia relations,'' said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov after meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell and his NATO counterparts at allied headquarters.
``What we are talking about is a mechanism that will enable us to draft and adopt decisions together on the crucial issues of security that will correspond to the spirit of the age,'' Ivanov said.
The 19-nation alliance wants to take advantage of Moscow's cooperation in the fight against terrorism to pursue opportunities for joint action with Russia.
``There is no issue more important to the security and stability of the Euro-Atlantic area than the further development of a confident and cooperative relationship between us,'' NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson said.
Besides the struggle against terrorism, Russia and NATO suggested in a joint statement that they could work together in such areas as crisis management, nonproliferation, arms control, theater missile defense, search and rescue at sea, military-to-military cooperation and civil emergencies.
``We are not abandoning our principles or prerogatives,'' Robertson said. ``No nonmember can veto the alliance's decisions. This is about working together more effectively when it is in all our interests to do so.''
Ivanov said Russia is not interested in joining the alliance.
``Russia has no intention to queue up for membership in NATO, among other nations,'' he said, adding that the goal is ``to establish a stable, predictable system of security in the Euro-Atlantic area.
Ivanov said that by early next year, Russia intends to come up with some specific proposals for the new council and the problems it will deal with.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Athens, where he is on an official visit, that there is no hurry to create the new council.
``Russia is not desperately knocking on the door of NATO,'' he said.
On Thursday, the ministers told their ambassadors at NATO headquarters to start working out details of a new arrangement.
``The precise nature and scope of this mechanism will require substantial work over the coming months,'' Robertson said, but the plan is to have it in place by the next meeting of allied foreign ministers in May in Reykjavik, Iceland.
NATO officials insist the alliance will not be hampered by the new effort at cooperation and if it is not possible to reach a decision with Russia, NATO's ruling council will simply meet at 19 and make its decisions without Russia.
Since 1997, consultations have been held under the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council, a forum originally created to ease Moscow's fears about NATO enlargement. But both sides say the arrangement has never been satisfactory and more often than not the alliance uses it to inform Russia of positions already taken.
Asked how Russia would benefit from this new arrangement, given that NATO could still make decisions on its own whether Moscow liked it or not, Robertson said ``the answer is more in chemistry than in arithmetic.''
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