|
|
 |
Georgia, Ukraine in NATO Epicenter
// The summit begins in Bucharest
The NATO summit, which is being called the “summit of hope,” opened yesterday. In the next two days, it will be decided whether or not Albania, Croatia and Macedonia will become members and membership procedures will be started for Georgia and Ukraine. The main intrigue of the summit is the arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his reaction to Kiev and Tbilisi's steps toward NATO. Kommersant special correspondent Olga Allenova has the details from Bucharest.
The NATO summit began with unprecedented security measures. Traffic practically came to a standstill in downtown Bucharest and only special lanes for summit participants were open. Snipers lined the roofs of buildings along routes taken by delegations. The 14 hotels housing summit participants and guests are surrounded by Romanian police special forces. According to official data, 35,000 people are engaged just in guarding the VIPs.
For the next three days, people working near the summit site have vacation. School children do as well. The Bucharest city administration is urging residents to remove their cars from the streets, stay off their balconies and “actively not greet” motorcades to avoid provoking security. This has all provided fodder for criticism of the authorities by the Romanian opposition press, which has estimated that the summit has cost Romania about ˆ30 million. That was the apparent reason Romanian President Traian Basescu apologized to his fellow countrymen on television, telling them that the numerous restrictions were necessary because of the “enormous meaning of the summit for the whole world.” “I promise you that, after the decisions that will be made at this summit, we will never have to worry about protecting ourselves like this,” he said. It was not clear whom the Romanian authorities are afraid of. There were not even the antiglobalists present, although they are traditional at this type of affair. There is information that requirements for receiving a Romanian visas were made stricter before the summit with the intention of keeping radical youth out of the country. Three layers of security surround the Romanian parliament, which is otherwise known as Ceausescu's Golden Palace. The NATO summit began here yesterday in its unofficial part. The official part began this morning with the keynote speech by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. However, in the corridors, they are saying that the main decisions on the new Balkan members and Ukraine and Georgia have already been made.
The evening before the summit opened, the Bucharest Conference, organized by the German Marshall Fund, was held. As part of the conference, key negotiations were held between the United States, which is lobbying for membership action plans for Ukraine and Georgia, and German and France, which do not wish to complicate relations with Russia and have threatened to use their right to a veto, if membership action plans for those countries come up for discussion. Late in the evening on Monday, U.S. President George W. Bush held an informal meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmaier and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon. The meeting was not indicated on the program of the conference and was held behind closed doors. When asked about the purpose of that meeting, one of the NATO coordinators in Bucharest replied, “We don't have any information on that event, since it has nor relation to the summit and was held as part of the Bucharest Conference.” However, Kommersant has learned that Bush flew to Bucharest ahead of the other heads of state to convince France and Germany of the need for a new level of partnership between Ukraine and Georgia and NATO.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was also present at that meeting, having also arrived late Monday evening, obviously especially for it. Before leaving for Bucharest, Saakashvili stated that he was seriously counting on Georgia receiving the status of candidate for NATO membership, because its “political and economic future is connected with Europe and with NATO as the most powerful military-political organization in the modern world.”
Yesterday morning, Bush supported Saakashvili when he spoke at the Bucharest Conference. After starting by saying that NATO will make a historical decision when it accepts three Balkan countries – Croatia, Albania and Macedonia – he went on to talk about Georgia and Ukraine. The Georgian delegation was clearly pleased by the U.S. president's speech. It was clear from the way Tbilisi prepared for the summit that it was confident of its victory. There were banners on the streets of Bucharest with the red crosses of the Georgian flag and the words “Georgia – friend, partner, ally.” Aside from those banners, only the Romanian tricolor and blue NATO flag were to be seen. The Georgian delegation came to Bucharest two days before the Ukrainian and launched into a flurry of activity. There will even be a tasting of Georgian wine on the day of the summit opening.
In Tbilisi, they are certain that Russia will be unable to interfere with Georgia's reception of a membership action plan, since it no longer has any arguments to pressure the U.S. with. “The missile defense system, in the Czech Republic and Poland will be installed no matter how Russia resists,” a member of the Georgian delegation told Kommersant. “The Kremlin has nothing else to pressure the States with.” When asked if Moscow could recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as a means of pressuring NATO members, a Georgian official answered, “Russia can threaten to recognize Abkhazia, of course, but Bush and the leaders of the European countries know that Russia will never recognize Sukhumi, because then the disintegration of Russia itself will be unavoidable.”
The words of the Georgian representatives supported by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza when Georgian journalists caught up with him in the lobby of the Hotel Continental. He told them that Russia cannot stop NATO from giving Georgia a membership action plan because Russia is not a member of NATO and does not have the right to a veto.
The Russian reaction to the possible membership action plans for Ukraine and Georgia has been a topic of active discussion, particularly about Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's statement in the Russian State Duma yesterday that Russia did not promise not to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In Bucharest, that statement was interpreted as a final effort to pressure NATO members. Russian Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin also attracted attention when he aid that the beginning of Ukraine and Georgia's path toward NATO membership would be a “point of no return” in Russia's relations with those countries. Western experts are concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin's April 4 speech will be even harsher than his famous Munich speech.
NATO press secretary James Appathurai, perhaps with the goal of alleviating some of the tension, stated yesterday that NATO was waiting for Putin's arrival and would greet him warmly. He denied rumors that the decision on Ukraine and Georgia has already been made, saying that active negotiations are continuing and no decision has been made about those countries or Macedonia.
Yesterday evening, Bush held his latest negotiations with French and German representatives as part of those active negotiations. Once again, they were held behind closed doors. The outcome of those negotiations will be seen today.
Olga Allenova, Bucharest
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 03, 2008
|
|
|
