Russia 101027 Basic Political Developments

Russia seeks restrictions on NATO military contingents - paper

http://en.rian.ru/world/20101027/161101195.html
11:38 27/10/2010

Russia wants NATO to impose a ban on the deployment of "substantive combatant forces" on the territories of the alliance's new member states, a Russian business daily said on Wednesday.

Kommersant said that the request was laid out in a draft cooperation deal that Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov handed over to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in December 2009. The deal, which is still under discussion, was not made public, under a mutual agreement.

"We want the level of predictability in military activity on the territories of the countries recently admitted to NATO to be higher than it is now," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the paper.

The new member states in question are the eight former Warsaw Pact countries that were admitted to NATO in 1999 and 2004.

"After the fall of the Soviet Union and the disestablishment of the Warsaw Pact, they [the new members of the alliance] joined the military bloc, which retained all the functions it had when the Soviet Union still existed," Ryabkov said.

"Moreover, NATO armed forces are being upgraded, which means that the situation to the west of us has changed. If there is no military threat, let us create specific military guarantees," Ryabkov said.

Russia has retained staunch opposition to NATO plans to deploy anti-missile defense systems in the territories of a number of the new member states, claiming that their positioning close to Russia's borders would be a security threat.

A source from NATO headquarters, who confirmed the existence of the treaty, said the main obstacle to its conclusion was that the term "substantive combat forces" has never been clearly defined.

While Russia considers the NATO forces deployed on a rotational base in Bulgaria and Romania substantial, for example, Washington does not.

Moscow's proposed agreement seeks to create a legal definition of the term.

The treaty will be discussed during Rasmussen's planned visit to Russia on November 5 after the NATO summit in Lisbon, the paper said.

MOSCOW, October 27 (RIA Novosti)

Russia to ask NATO impose ban on substantial military units placement in newly accessed member states

http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n233692
27 October 2010 | 09:50 | FOCUS News Agency

Home / World

Moscow. Russia will ask NATO impose a ban on the placement of military units on the territory of newly accessed countries, Russian Kommersant writes. Using the term substantial military units Russia envisages military units that may be used for offensive military actions.
According to Kommersant the draft agreement has been already filed in Brussels.
The newspaper quotes Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, who said that Russia’s proposal envisages restrictions on the temporary placement of substantial military units on the territory of countries that joined NATO during the last enlargement of the Alliance.
Russia's Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin explained the term ‘substantial military units’ as such consisting of more than 41 tanks, 188 armored machines, 90 ordnances of 100mm caliber, and more than 24 military aircrafts or 24 military helicopters.
According to Russia the measure will secure maximum trust between NATO and Russia.

NATO Chief Sees 'New Start' With Russia

http://www.rferl.org/content/NATO_Chief_Sees_Possible_Improved_Relations_With_Russia/2202340.html
October 27, 2010

Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says he's hopeful that NATO is moving close to what he calls a "new start" in relations with Russia -- including cooperation in connection with the Afghan conflict and possibly missile defense.

In an interview with the British-based "Financial Times" newspaper, Rasmussen says he believes Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's expected attendance at the defense alliance's annual summit next month in Lisbon will improve NATO's relations with Moscow that were strained over Russia's 2008 war with Georgia.

Rasmussen said the Lisbon summit could be the most important for cooperation with Russia since the 2002 Rome summit, when the NATO-Russia Council was established.

Rasmussen said one of the central issues at the summit would be whether NATO and Russia could begin cooperating on the creation of a missile-defense shield to protect against potential threats from a nation like Iran.

He also said the Lisbon summit could lead to Russia increasing its cooperation with NATO-led forces who are fighting Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in Afghanistan.

compiled from Reuters and RFE/RL reports

Nato hopes to rebuild ties with Moscow

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/02a4d014-e125-11df-90b7-00144feabdc0.html

By James Blitz in Brussels and Daniel Dombey in Washington

Published: October 26 2010 18:32 | Last updated: October 26 2010 18:32

Nato believes it is on the verge of a “reset” in its often fraught relationship with Russia, and is taking steps towards collaboration on a missile defence system while boosting co-operation over the war in Afghanistan, the alliance’s top diplomat has told the Financial Times.

As Nato prepares for its annual summit in Lisbon next month, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the alliance’s secretary-general, said a decision by Dmitry Medvedev, president, to attend the meeting would boost the Nato-Russia relationship, which was severely damaged by Moscow’s 2008 invasion of Georgia.

“The summit will represent a new start in the relationship between Nato and Russia,” said Mr Fogh Rasmussen. “It will be a very substantive Nato-Russia summit and definitely the most important event for [bilateral] co-operation since the Rome summit of 2002, when we established the Nato-Russia council.”

Mr Fogh Rasmussen said one of the central issues at the summit would be whether Nato and Russia could begin co-operating on the creation of a missile defence shield, which has long been championed by the US. While such a shield in Europe is being built and financed by the US, Washington hopes its allies will support the creation of a Nato-wide command and control system that would improve its coverage and capability.

Moscow has said in the past that it regards Bush-era plans for such a shield – which would be aimed at defending Nato countries against an Iranian attack – as a threat to its own security. But Mr Rasmussen believes Moscow’s objections have softened and that the Nato-wide missile defence system could one day link up to Russian radars to give all participating countries better protection.

“I would expect a decision on missile co-operation to be one of the most important outcomes of the Nato-Russia summit,” he said.

“Co-operation between Russia and Nato on missile defence will provide us with a very strong framework to develop a true Euro-Atlantic security architecture with one security roof. Militarily, it makes sense because co-operation between Nato and Russia will make the whole system more effective and give more coverage.”

Mr Rasmussen said the summit could see Nato and Russia deepening co-operation on Afghanistan. Nato officials say the US and Russia are working on a package that could see Moscow providing more than 20 helicopters to Afghan security forces. Nato is also exploring whether Russia will allow the alliance to ship more goods – including weapons – across its own territory to Nato forces in Afghanistan.

For the US, closer ties between Nato and Russia would be a significant step.

Barack Obama, US president, has cultivated a relationship with Mr Medvedev, with whom he negotiated personally on the Start nuclear arms control treaty. But the fate of the treaty is uncertain.

Although it has passed the committee stage in the US Senate, it has yet to be ratified by the full body – and Russia has made clear it will not ratify the treaty unless the US does so.