Russia's President Medvedev against new "iron curtain"

Sep 14, 2009, 15:18 GMT

Moscow - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a speech at a global security conference attended by European heads of government on Monday again called for a modern international security pact.

'No one should hide problems behind an 'iron curtain',' Medvedev said at the opening of the first international Modern and Global Security Conference being held in Yaroslavl, some 300 kilometres north-east of Moscow.

The problems of one country today have the potential to lead to international conflict faster than before, the Kremlin chief warned.

Medvedev said 'from Vancouver to Vladivostok,' a new security pact was needed to guard against problems such as the current financial crisis in future.

Medvedev also warned against national unilateralism in an 'increasingly complex world.' It was an 'illusion' to want to justify military adventures with bombastic excuses, he said. 'No country, not even the strongest, should push for global dominance.'

His concept of a new security pact was not directed against anyone, Medvedev said. 'Russia is prepared to discuss it with everyone.'

George Robertson, North Atlantic Treaty Organization secretary general from 1999 to 2003, speaking in Yaroslavl, urged Russia and the alliance to cooperate closely. This was both 'possible and necessary,' he told the German Press Agency dpa.

In all around 100 delegates from 18 countries were taking part in the one-day conference, including the former European Commission president Romano Prodi, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his French counterpart Francois Fillon.

According to Russian daily Nezavisimaia Gazeta, the Kremlin wants to position the gathering in the city of 600,000 inhabitants as an extension of the annual security conference held in Munich, Germany.