RUSSIA’S TENSE relationship with Nato will dominate the agenda when President Dmitry Medvedev joins his French and German counterparts at a security summit in the French seaside town of Deauville today.
The two-day meeting is described by French officials as a tripartite “brainstorming” session in advance of an important Nato summit next month and France’s chairmanship of the G8 and G20 next year. The French and German leaders see it as an opportunity to consolidate their improving ties with Russia and to draw Moscow deeper into what the Élysée Palace calls “a common economic, human and security space” between Europe and Russia.
Mr Medvedev arrived in Deauville last night to be greeted by Mr Sarkozy and Dr Merkel before the three leaders dined together at a local restaurant. At their formal summit meeting this morning, it is understood Mr Medvedev will be invited to attend meetings on the fringes of next month’s Nato summit in Lisbon, where leaders of the Atlantic alliance are due to approve a new strategic doctrine.
Moscow officially regards Nato as the greatest threat to its security, however, and remains hostile to the organisation’s plans to develop an anti-missile defence system. Russia’s ambassador to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, said Moscow was wary about accepting such an invitation and needed more details about an offer to cooperate over missile defence.
While Nato says the plan is aimed against a missile threat from Iran, Moscow is concerned it could also be used to counter Russia’s long-range nuclear arsenal, weakening its deterrent and leaving it vulnerable.
“We do not want to be hit with any surprises in Lisbon. We need to understand what this means in principle: the parameters of the missile defence system; who it will be aimed against; who will press the button,” Mr Rogozin told Russian media this week.
Mr Medvedev is expected to reiterate his call for a new security treaty in Europe, although France and Germany have rallied around Berlin’s idea for a less formal EU-Russia “political and security committee” to structure closer discussions. Paris sees the tripartite summit – the first since 2006 – as an opportunity to build on the still fragile improvement in political and economic co-operation between Russia and Europe. “Russia seems to us to be rediscovering the merits of a co-operative attitude towards western countries,” a French official said. “It will be a chance . . . to consolidate this positive change.”