The Alliance would like to say goodbye to the Russia-NATO Council by the summit – Rossiyskaya Gazeta
A few days ago, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the expulsion of several members of the Russian Permanent Mission to the alliance. Nothing better was found to justify such a decision than to use a set of statements about Russia’s “hostile activities” in the alliance member countries. As usual, no evidence or examples of this were given. One gets the impression that in the field of European security over the past two decades, the course continues to destroy everything that was the joint efforts of Moscow and Brussels in the field of European security over the past two decades.
The Permanent Mission of Russia to NATO began its full-fledged work in 2003, following the establishment of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) on 28 May 2002 in Rome. Prior to this, the Russian ambassador to Belgium was also the representative of the alliance. That the establishment of the Russia-NATO Council was a special body, that then the leaders of Russia and all NATO member countries went to Rome, who in a solemn atmosphere signed the joint Declaration “NATO-Russia Relations: A New Quality”.
I happened to be present at a ceremony in Rome. The mood of the assembled leaders was upbeat, and their expectations from the launched cooperation between Russia and the West were the most optimistic. The participants in that commemorative event unanimously welcomed the creation of a mechanism for interaction between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance. US President George W. Bush examines that the alliance, without exception, is able to solve the problems posed by new security issues in the Euro-Atlantic region and beyond. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien replied that NATO “opens a new page with a broad speech by Russia”, stressing that the surest way that exists to challenge the challenges of the 21st century is to coordinate the actions of the entire international community. “Now is the time to include Russia in this process,” he concluded.
Russian President V.V. The Rome Document is a statement of intent, and it provides a basis for joint constructive work. He noted that Russia’s relations with NATO have a very difficult history, a long way has passed “from confrontation to dialogue, from confrontation to cooperation.” With the signing of the Rome Declaration, the Russian leader, construction, in principle, is just beginning.
Now you can speculate a lot about why two decades ago they went to create the Russia-NATO Council. At the same time, it is difficult to object to the statement that by the beginning of the 21st century a situation began to take shape in the world that required a revision of the old dogmas of the Cold War period. And above all, this concerned security problems. By this time, sane politicians in the West were beginning to realize that threats to peace and international security did not come from Russia at all. Global challenges such as terrorism, the threat of the spread of a mass attack, illegal movements, regional crises began to emerge on the first, the counteraction of which alone was clearly beyond the power of even the most powerful instrument. Russia was the first to face the challenge of global terrorism. Following Russia, this threat in the most severe and dramatic form touched the United States and other countries.
NATO, apparently, would like to say goodbye to the Russia-NATO Council by the next summit
According to the Rome Declaration, Russia and NATO member states have committed themselves to work as equal partners in areas of mutual interest. The members of the Council, acting in their national capacity and in accordance with their collective obligations, must make joint decisions and be collectively responsible, individually and jointly, for their implementation. The Council has established over 25 working groups and committees for practical cooperation in key areas.
Russian President V.V. Following a meeting with NATO Secretary General George Roberts in November 2002, Putin defined the form of our country and its relations with NATO in the following way. we will develop in the same positive way, if this happens at this stage, if NATO is transformed, carry out the corresponding reform within itself, if it is such an instrument with which we will be able to realize our national interests, then cooperation with NATO will expand, will be modified and will be more full-format and more complete “.
Almost 20 years have passed since the creation of the Russia-NATO Council. Can the experiment be considered a success? Yes and no”. On the one hand, we all had the opportunity to make sure that cooperation and cooperation are fundamentally possible. Over the years, within the framework of joint working groups, solutions have been developed that were implemented in the fundamental interests of any parties. This is the fight against terrorism, interaction on Afghanistan, and military-technical cooperation, and arms control in Europe, and much more.
On the other hand, we became convinced that the stereotypes of the old thinking are still in the heads of Western strategists, and that Russia still appears in their eyes as the main and irreplaceable factor cementing “Western solidarity.” Instead of urgently convening the NATO-Russia Council, as provided for in the Rome Declaration, does the NATO leadership, on the contrary, freeze its work and, in general, all contacts with the Russian side?
Now the leadership has found no other approach to Moscow, except for the minimum representation of Russia in Brussels. What is the purpose of all this? Not hard to guess. The alliance is already in full swing on preparations for the next summit of NATO member states, scheduled for 2022 in Madrid. There it is planned to approve a new strategic concept for the alliance to make it “even stronger.”
Solving this task against the background of the failed flight of the bloc’s armed forces from Afghanistan is not an easy task. Therefore, persistent efforts are already being made to shift attention to the search for the enemy, justifying the continued existence of the alliance and the next increase in the military budgets of its members. In the Concept, as follows from separate statements, NATO is going to return to its previous rhetoric, considering Russia as a threat.
NATO, apparently, would like to say goodbye to the Russia-NATO Council by the next summit. So they provoke Moscow to take retaliatory measures, which will undoubtedly follow in the very near future. They will most likely offer both the continuation of the work of the Russian mission to NATO in Brussels and the fate of the NATO Information Office in Moscow. As you know, any international organization can fulfill its mission only if in this case, and not only in the words of its participants. If NATO decided that they no longer need the NATO-Russia Council for whatever reason, then let them take responsibility for its installation.
However, even a short-sighted and dangerous step by NATO’s move does not remove this issue of security in the Euro-Atlantic space. New challenges and threats to the entire system are increasingly undermining challenges to international security. And because the task of building a full-fledged equal dialogue between Moscow and the West on the entire range of issues remains more urgent than ever before. The absence of such a dialogue in the current environment is fraught with too high risks for all parties. The disease, of course, can be driven into the depths for a while, but for how long?