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Russian forum to help creation of new global security system - pundit

Church of Saint Nicholas Mokryi (1665-72), southeast view, Yaroslavl, RussiaMoscow, 19 August: The director of the US and Canada Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Sergey Rogov, thinks that it is now necessary to create a new global security system and hopes that the staging of an international political forum in Yaroslavl (on 9-10 September) will help to achieve this.

"This system will only be able to ensure international stability if it takes into account the interests of both the 'old' and 'new' centres of power, including China and India. But this system will not be created until the legacy of the confrontation between the USA and Russia is overcome. The 'reset' in Russian-US relations establishes the prerequisites for this," Rogov said in an interview published on the forum's website.

In his view, "the new START treaty gives the opportunity to continue the process of cutting nuclear weapons, and in the future this process needs to be given a multilateral form, as bilateral agreements are insufficient to guarantee security in a multipolar world".

"In order to guarantee security in the new polycentric system, unconventional, unprecedented solutions will be needed. The Yaroslavl forum allows a search for these solutions to be undertaken," Rogov said.

Regarding the possible creation of an all-European collective security mechanism, he noted that "this idea was outlined in Russia's well-known proposals".

"This approach proposes constructing this system with the participation of all countries and all the main international organizations on the European continent, and not only NATO and the EU uniting Western states.
But for the time being the West does not want to hold a serious dialogue, pointing to the universal nature of the OSCE, even though this organization has proved to be ineffective and has not lived up to the hopes once instilled in it," Rogov noted.

He also said that "unfortunately, our proposals seem not entirely convincing either and excessively general, as there are no serious proposals yet as to how to bring the CFE treaty (on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe) out of deadlock, in which neither Russia nor NATO are intending to make concessions".

"In my view, in order to 'unfreeze' the situation, the Russian position needs to be made more specific by proposing detailed initiatives on several key issues of European security," he said.

He said that "a new all-European treaty could have been proposed for limiting ordinary weapons and armed forces". "A treaty like this should prevent a new arms race, as the 'old' CFE treaty sets 'ceilings' for NATO countries which make it possible to double the number of tanks, pieces of artillery etc," he explained. (Passage omitted)

He also said that, in his opinion, "a regional missile defence system finally needs to be created to offer protection against medium and long-range missiles". "This system would not have a negative impact on the Russian-US strategic balance, but would make it possible to protect Europe from threats emanating from other regions. This approach would make it possible to turn the missile defence issue from a bone of contention into a binding foundation for the security of all Europeans," he said.

Commenting on the upcoming forum in Yaroslavl, Rogov said that "it has great potential". "On the one hand it makes it possible to involve various Russian political forces in a discussion, as well as experts on international affairs, but avoiding empty chatter. On the other hand, it is extremely important to involve leading foreign political scientists in the discussion who are prepared for serious dialogue rather than propaganda exercises," Rogov noted.

He also specified that "it will not be possible to develop a culture of discussion quickly - some time will be needed before the forum acquires a great deal of authority, but it has good prospects". (Passage omitted)

Keywords: Global Security System, Yaroslavl, Rogov, Europe, European Arms Control Treaties, START, Russia, Russian, Johnson's Russia List, Russia News

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