NATO and Russia escalate row over European security

By Shada Islam Apr 26, 2007, 23:48 GMT

Russian President Vladimir Putin. NATO and Russia on Thursday escalated their sparring on European defence and security, with alliance foreign ministers voicing serious concern at Moscow\'s threat to stop compliance with a post-Cold War treaty on military deployment across the continent. EPA/ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO - POOL

Oslo - NATO and Russia on Thursday escalated their sparring on European defence and security, with alliance foreign ministers voicing serious concern at Moscow's threat to stop compliance with a post-Cold War treaty on military deployment across the continent.

The 26-nation alliance and Russia also stepped up their row over US plans to station elements of a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic, a move which Moscow says is a threat to Russian security.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, speaking after the alliance's foreign ministers met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Oslo, said Russia's declaration of a 'de facto moratorium' on implementing the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty had been met by 'grave concerns, disappointment and regret' by the alliance.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cautioned Russia to play by the rules. 'Everybody is expected to live up to treaty obligations,' she said.

'We continue to hope that Russians will recognize that we are in a different threat environment,' said Rice. 'We are not adversaries; we face common threats.'

But immediately countering her views, Lavrov said NATO was still searching for enemies.

'The situation is not particularly healthy ... they are still looking for an enemy. This leads to dividing lines not only between states but within states,' he warned.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in a state-of-the-union address in Moscow said he was considering declaring a freeze on the 1990 CFE treaty since NATO signatories of the pact had still not ratified an updated version from 1999.

The Russian president linked his decision partially to the controversial plans to station 10 unarmed missile interceptors in Poland and a linked radar in the neighbouring Czech Republic.

In Oslo, Lavrov told reporters that Russia wanted a 'real discussion' on Europe's new security landscape.

'Unless our partners actually do that, then we will withdraw from that treaty,' he said.

Scheffer insisted that the 1990 CFE treaty and its adapted 1999 version were 'one of the cornerstones of European security' and that the alliance had adhered to the CFE treaty in letter and spirit.

'It has never been violated,' he said.

Scheffer said NATO governments would not ratify the pact until Russia met its own obligations to withdraw forces from Georgia and Moldova. Lavrov responded, however, that Moscow had no such legal obligation.

The CFE treaty, signed in 1990 between NATO and the Warsaw Pact of Central and Eastern European Communist states, allowed the destruction of tanks, vehicles, artillery pieces, planes and helicopters.

An adapted treaty, signed in 1999 in Istanbul, however, has been ratified by only four countries: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine.

NATO ministers and Moscow also voiced starkly divergent views on US missile defence plans in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Rice described as 'purely ludicrous' Russian concerns that the plan would endanger Moscow's nuclear arsenal and said Russian opposition to the shield did 'not make sense.'

Washington was ready for dialogue with Moscow on the issue but such discussions had to be based on a 'realistic assessment' of threats, Rice said.

The US insists that the installations in Poland and the Czech Republic are meant to provide a defence against long-range missiles fired by so-called 'rogue states' like Iran and North Korea.

But Lavrov said Russia did not believe Iran posed a danger to European security - today or in the near future.

'We should conduct a joint analysis of who are our enemies...and then agree on the real threats and address them,' Lavrov said. 'If this is a unilateral scheme, then it will be threat to security of Europe as well.'

Russia also believed that to neutralize an Iranian strike, an anti-missile shield would have to be based in 'a more southern position,' he said.

In response, the US says the range and capability of Iranian and North Korean missiles should be looked at 'strategically,' over a 10 to 20-year period.

Scheffer said the alliance supported 'generous' US proposals for closer missile defence cooperation with Russia, which include sharing technology.

'I hope they will yield results,' Scheffer said.

In an effort to ease concerns within the alliance, the US has also said its shield will be compatible with and complementary to NATO's planned theatre missile defence system in 2010 covering short-range missile threats to troops in small areas.

Officials say that while the US system would cover long-range nuclear threats to the US and Europe, the NATO system would protect countries like Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, which are closer to Iran, from short-range missiles.

NATO also says the US system means the alliance will not have to invest millions of dollars in defending Europe from long-range nuclear threats.

Discussions within NATO will continue in the coming month to take account of the new US plans for Poland and the Czech Republic.