Cooperation, partnership and NATO's enlargement
(...) Obviously, an important part of the new security landscape in Europe
is
Russia. Russia remains the single most powerful military power in Europe.
As Secretary General, I wish to develop close relationships of trust and
mutual benefit between NATO and Russia, building on the legac of my
predecessor, the late Manfred Woerner. Starting in 1990 when he
travelled to Moscow to extend NATO's hand of friendship, Manfred
Woerner created a very solid foundation for our future relationship.
In this regard, Partnership for Peace provides an important opportunity
to
enhance Alliance relations with Russia. In addition, the "broad, enhanced
dialogue and cooperation" NATO has agreed to pursue with Russia
outside the PFP framework will make a further contribution to stability
and
security in Europe. In this partnership, each side will respect the
sovereignty of the other, and there will be no droit de regard. Moreover,
the NATO-Russian relationship will not be based on any concept of
"spheres of influence". Rather, we seek to build the new Europe based
upon respect for CSCE principles, including freedom from coercion.
Indeed, successfully developing a NATO-Russia relationship based on
these principles is vital to our goal of a "Europe whole and free".
Our evolving relationship with Russia has steadily gained in substance.
On
1 December, Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev met with the North
Atlantic Council in a "16+1" format to review two important documents -
the Individual Partnership Programme between NATO and Russia and a
further development of the enhanced NATO-Russian relationship "beyond
PFP". Although further discussion will be required before formal agreement
can be reached on them, this ministerial-level meeting was a first for
the
Alliance and for Russia too. I am convinced that there can be no durable
European security system without the active, constructive and cooperative
involvement of Russia. |