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NATO and Russia Decide to Give It a Go
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov met NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Thursday. Ivanov and de Hoop Scheffer showed willingness to give another chance to strained relations between the two parties.
Russia’s Defense Minister Ivanov and NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer met the press after the meeting and confirmed their readiness to invigorate ties between Russia and the NATO. “There are differences in every kind of relations, including family ones. One has to work to keep them going. This is what I am doing here,” the NATO Secretary General said. “We do not go along on all issues but we do agree on some.”
The officials could not but comment recent tensions in Georgian-Russian relations. The NATO Secretary General said he had told Putin that “the NATO does not play any direct role” in the conflict. “We are calling on all parties for de-escalation and observance of rights of Georgia for territorial integrity,” he said. The NATO head also made a clear urge for Abkhazia and South Ossetia to return to Georgia on their own free will.
In his turn, Serge Ivanov said that that Russia can feel and see clear signs “thatGeorgian authorities are inclined to opt for a military solution, which may entail unpredictable consequences for lives and security of our citizens.”
The Russian Defense Minister mentioned other points of disagreement between Russian and the NATO such as “issues of sprawling out the NATO’s military facilities towards the Russian border” as well as “plans of the United States to deploy the third positional region of air defense global system in Eastern Europe.” Ivanov explained the apprehensions. “Threats are shifting. We are aware that the aim that the NATO was created for – the Soviet Union – no longer exists,” he said. “Threats and challenges may be situated in various parts of the world, and they are mostly outside Europe.”
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 27, 2006
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