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NATO chief urges restart of top-level Russia talks
AFP - Friday, March 6
BRUSSELS (AFP) - - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer recommended Thursday that the alliance resume top-level talks with Russia which have been frozen since last August's war in Georgia.
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As he arrived to chair talks between NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, also to focus on the troubled mission in Afghanistan, Scheffer said ties with Moscow had shown a marked improvement in recent months.
"My inclination is a positive one, so let's hope that ministers agree with me," he told reporters. When asked when talks in the so-called NATO-Russia Council would resume formally, he said: "I hope sooner rather than later."
The alliance's foreign ministers are expected to give their green light to the resumption of the high-level ties with Russia while reassuring Georgia and Ukraine that they have a future in the military alliance.
Although official high-level talks between NATO and Russia were put on hold since August over Moscow's war with Georgia, the talks resumed informally in December under Scheffer's guidance.
NATO diplomats confirmed Wednesday that an in-principle agreement had been reached to end the freeze.
The first official meeting could take place at the level of ministers after NATO's 60th anniversary summit in early April, the diplomats said.
In an effort to ease the concerns of Georgia and Ukraine, both striving to join NATO in the face of Russian objections, the ministers will also meet Thursday with Georgian and Ukrainian representatives.
"I think it is important to re-establish the NRC (NATO-Russia Council). That gives us the opportunity to put our concerns directly to the Russians," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.
"It also allows us to engage on issues of mutual concern," he said.
Several nations have wanted to resume formal meetings of the NATO-Russia Council, which meets routinely among ambassadors, but also at ministerial and head of state and government level.
France, Germany, Italy, Norway and Spain maintain that the sanction against the key European energy supplier is counter-productive and have called for a de-freeze for months. Britain joined that position late last year.
On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama revealed that he sent a long letter to his Russian counterpart in a bid to join forces on thorny issues like Iran, nuclear arms and missile defence, in a sign of a new detente.
"There are signals that most of the members of the alliance have the same position" on endorsing a resumption, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
However NATO takes its decisions unanimously, and any of its 26 members could torpedo a deal, with some eastern European states like the Czech Republic as well as Canada, which has a big Georgian community, cool on such a move.
"It's a bit premature to open the formal dialogue," said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Vygaudas Usackas. "I think we have to use this time before the summit and encourage Russia to be more cooperative."
NATO-Russia ties have also been tense over independence for the Serbian province of Kosovo, where NATO leads a peacekeeping force, and Moscow has threatened to counter the extension into Europe of a US missile shield.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who made no comment to reporters on arrival, will also consult NATO allies on Washington's new strategy to combat the insurgency in Afghanistan.
"I will certainly be raising issues that are important to the United States such as our plan going forward for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the NATO-Russia relationship, some of the old problems and new threats together," she told reporters on the eve of the meeting.
NATO is battling to halt a Taliban-led insurgency that has severely dented their efforts to spread democracy and foster reconstruction throughout Afghanistan.
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NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, seen here, recommended Thursday that the alliance resume top-level talks with Russia which have been frozen since last August's war in Georgia.
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