NATO Summit Russia's Defeat But Not Final — German Expert
Interfax - 5.21.12 - JRL 2012-93
MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfax) - The NATO summit in Chicago has become a defeat for Russia but one should not make a tragedy out of it, said German political analyst Alexander Rahr.
"In a sense this summit is a defeat for Russia because the idea of a missile-defense system has been adopted, it will now be built, the West will be defending itself, and missile defense cooperation with Russia has failed," he told Interfax on Monday.
At the same time, "while it looks like a loss for Russia, one should not make it a disaster," he said.
There is still enough time to settle all the differences between Russia and NATO over this issue because full deployment and improvement of the system will take years, Rahr said.
Meanwhile, Russia and NATO can use other areas of cooperation to boost mutual confidence, he said. "I think Russia will do everything to strengthen trustworthy relations with the West. Maybe, after this operation of NATO troops withdrawal from Afghanistan through Russia is over, the election campaign in America is over, with Obama staying in power, it will be possible to revisit cooperation matters," he said.
Commenting on the fact that the G8 summit in Camp David late last week was attended by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instead of President Vladimir Putin, Rahr said that Russia is thus trying to show that it attaches greater importance to G20 summits.
"Putin will, of course, speak at the G20. He will go there and show that Russia gives a priority to a multi-polar world order, and not the kind of order sought by the G8 countries," the expert said.
"Putin's absence was a fairly demonstrable step. It signifies a degrading, from Russia's point of view, of the G8 and upgrading of the G20 status," he added.
It was reported earlier that at the NATO summit in Chicago its members announced the first step to build a missile defense system.
This is the first step towards our long-term goal to provide full protection coverage for the entire territory of NATO's European population and forces; our system will be inter-related, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
The dialogue with Moscow will continue, he told reporters.
We have decided to develop the NATO missile defense system because we believe that the missile threat is real, and we need a real defense against a real threat. It cannot be blocked by Russia. It is a NATO decision. Having said that, we invited Russia to cooperate on missile defense. This invitation will remain in force and we shall continue our dialogue with Russia, he said.
Keywords: Russia, Nuclear Issues, Missile Defense - Russia, NATO - U.S.-Russian Relations - Russian News - Russia
MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfax) - The NATO summit in Chicago has become a defeat for Russia but one should not make a tragedy out of it, said German political analyst Alexander Rahr.
"In a sense this summit is a defeat for Russia because the idea of a missile-defense system has been adopted, it will now be built, the West will be defending itself, and missile defense cooperation with Russia has failed," he told Interfax on Monday.
At the same time, "while it looks like a loss for Russia, one should not make it a disaster," he said.
There is still enough time to settle all the differences between Russia and NATO over this issue because full deployment and improvement of the system will take years, Rahr said.
Meanwhile, Russia and NATO can use other areas of cooperation to boost mutual confidence, he said. "I think Russia will do everything to strengthen trustworthy relations with the West. Maybe, after this operation of NATO troops withdrawal from Afghanistan through Russia is over, the election campaign in America is over, with Obama staying in power, it will be possible to revisit cooperation matters," he said.
Commenting on the fact that the G8 summit in Camp David late last week was attended by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instead of President Vladimir Putin, Rahr said that Russia is thus trying to show that it attaches greater importance to G20 summits.
"Putin will, of course, speak at the G20. He will go there and show that Russia gives a priority to a multi-polar world order, and not the kind of order sought by the G8 countries," the expert said.
"Putin's absence was a fairly demonstrable step. It signifies a degrading, from Russia's point of view, of the G8 and upgrading of the G20 status," he added.
It was reported earlier that at the NATO summit in Chicago its members announced the first step to build a missile defense system.
This is the first step towards our long-term goal to provide full protection coverage for the entire territory of NATO's European population and forces; our system will be inter-related, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
The dialogue with Moscow will continue, he told reporters.
We have decided to develop the NATO missile defense system because we believe that the missile threat is real, and we need a real defense against a real threat. It cannot be blocked by Russia. It is a NATO decision. Having said that, we invited Russia to cooperate on missile defense. This invitation will remain in force and we shall continue our dialogue with Russia, he said.