THE NEW Nato secretary general yesterday called for a “strategic partnership” with Russia a year after the Kremlin’s war in Georgia triggered the worst tension between Moscow and the West for nearly 20 years.
In his first public appearance since he took up the post, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Danish prime minister, said good relations with Russia were a priority during his five-year tenure.
His statement will worry Nato members from central Europe and the Baltic who are protesting to the White House over Barack Obama’s recent overtures to the Kremlin. In remarks that appeared in tune with the pragmatic security policies being pushed by Washington, Mr Rasmussen said that relations with Moscow should be guided by “shared interests”, making no reference to common “values”.
Senior Nato officials said Mr Rasmussen was sending a conciliatory signal to the Kremlin and also fishing for an invitation to Moscow to discuss a common agenda that could include counter-terrorism programmes, Afghanistan, nuclear non-proliferation, and action to curb piracy.
His predecessor, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who stood down at the weekend, had poor personal relations with the Russian leadership.
Alarmed by the Russian invasion of Georgia and its implications for their own security, the former Soviet satellites of the Baltic and central Europe are appealing to the White House for stronger security guarantees. The new Nato members are worried that better relations between Moscow and the West could come at their expense.
Several former and current senior officials from the region have just written an open letter voicing fears over the direction of Mr Obama’s foreign policy.
“People question whether Nato would be willing and able to come to our defence in some future crises,” they wrote a fortnight ago. “Our ability to continue to sustain public support depends on us being able to show that our own security concerns are being addressed in Nato.” They said their hopes for better relations with Moscow had been dashed and they felt increasingly bullied.
“Russia is back as a revisionist power pursuing a 19th-century agenda with 21st-century tactics and methods. It challenges our claims to our own historical experiences. It asserts a privileged position in determining our security choices,” the letter said. “It uses overt and covert means of economic warfare, ranging from energy blockades and politically motivated investments to bribery and media manipulation in order to advance its interests and to challenge the transatlantic orientation of central and eastern Europe.”
But Mr Rasmussen indicated the emphasis was on Russia, not on central Europe. “We should develop a true strategic partnership with Russia,” he said. The central Europeans complain that security guarantees in Nato’s charter have in effect been allowed to lapse over the past decade and are demanding a new “strategic concept”. – (Guardian service)