Russia, NATO fail to overcome gaps

www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-05 06:45:23

BUCHAREST, April 4 (Xinhua) --

Russia and NATO failed to make headway in overcoming gaps on thorny issues at their first ever Council Summit on Friday, despite a transit deal was forged.

The two traditional foes have had long sharply disagreed on substantial matters such as the military alliance eastward expansion, Kosovo and a Cold War-time arms control treaty.

A U.S. plan of deploying missile defense system, which was endorsed by a NATO summit on Thursday, is another concern of Russia, which has regarded it threat to its security.

Ever since NATO's first eastward expansion in 1999, when Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary joined, Russia vehemently opposed to the move.

Turning a deaf ear to Moscow's opposition, NATO enlarged several times to 26 nations before taking formally Croatia and Albania as new members on Thursday. Macedonia can join as soon as its name dispute with Greece is settled.

NATO decided to keep its door open to Ukraine and Georgia, though it failed to launch the Membership Action Plan (MAP) for the two former Soviet republics.

Russia voiced its strong uneasiness and anger at this, as President Vladimir Putin challenged "the existence of the (military) bloc" on Friday.

He said his country did not believe that NATO's existence was not against Russia.

The circumstances have greatly changed since its creation, he noted, "Against whom does NATO exist?" he challenged.

On the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE), NATO urged Russia to return to it, while Putin said his country was ready to do so if there was a compromise from Western nations.

"We are ready to return to the treaty but expect a mutual step," he told the NATO-Russia Council meeting on the last day of a three-day NATO summit.

Russia imposed a moratorium on the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE) in December 2007 in protest against U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in Eastern Europe and NATO's ongoing expansion.

Moscow has insisted that NATO countries ratify the 1999 version of the treaty, which limits the stationing of troops and heavy weapons from the Atlantic coast to Russia's Ural mountains.

Russia withdrew troops from Afghanistan, Vietnam and Cuba and destroyed heavy weapons according to the treaty, Putin said, but the western partners would not ratify it.

On the NATO side, leaders of its 26 member nations called in a statement on Thursday for Russia to lift the moratorium on the treaty.

"The current situation, where NATO CFE Allies implement the treaty while Russia does not, cannot last indefinitely," the statement said.

It said that the military alliance had offered "a set of constructive and forward-looking proposals ... We believe these proposals address all of Russia's stated concerns," without elaborating the contents of the proposals.

The missile shield to be deployed by the U.S. in the Czech Republic and Poland is another thing that gets on Russia's nerves.

Putin is expected to continue talks on the topics with U.S. President George W. Bush on Sunday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The only achievement resulting from Friday's NATO-Russia Council Summit meeting was that they forged a land transit deal allowing the military bloc to cross Russia's land to transport non-military goods to its peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan.

The agreement on food, spare parts, fuel and transport vehicles was the "only concrete result" from the meeting, said a NATO spokeswoman.

The agreement showed that Russia adopted flexible approach to cope with NATO, though it did not include air transit.

"NATO is a reality, so we cooperate with it," Putin said.

Though disagreements remained, "the spirit of cooperation and compromise prevailed" their talks, which Putin described as "frank and constructive."

NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer echoed him in this aspect.

"NATO and Russia have embarked on the road to the joint effort on Afghanistan," Scheffer said of the transit deal.

On the independence of Kosovo, Putin "did make a number of remarks" at the meeting, but "it was wrong to say clash of views" over their disagreements, Scheffer said.

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