NATO urges Russia to fulfil pledges over Georgia, Moldova withrawal

ISTANBUL (AFP) Jun 28, 2004 NATO urged Russia Monday to fulfil pledges to withdraw its troops and bases from the ex-Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova, recalling that ratification of a landmark treaty depends on it.

"I sincerely hope that the Georgian and the Russian government can come to an agreement as far as the dismantling of the bases is concerned," Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.

The dismantling of the bases was a "key element of the Istanbul commitments, indeed a precondition for the ratification of the adapted CFE treaty," he said.

De Hoop Scheffer spoke after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of an alliance summit here.

The secretary general said the impasse over the Russian military presence in Georgia and the Transniester region of Moldova was one of the "hard nuts to cut" in NATO's relations with Moscow.

At a summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul in 1999, Russia pledged to withdraw its forces from both southern Caucasus countries by 2002, but halted the process in 2001.

OSCE member states signed an adjusted treaty limiting Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) the same year -- but not ratified -- to account for changing boundaries since the end of the Cold War.

Rumsfeld Thanks Moldova For Support in Terror War - June 26, 2004 - Moldova sent 45 troops to Iraq from September 2003 through March. There, as members of the Polish-led Multinational Division, they applied de-mining and explosive ordnance skills honed in Moldova, which was officially declared mine- free just two years ago. Moldova plans to send a second contingent of about 12 de-miners to Iraq soon, although the specific timetable was not announced.

Rumsfeld addressed the most pressing threat facing Moldova: the presence of Russian troops, weapons and munitions in the eastern Transnistria region. Russia pledged to pull out of the region by 2001 at the 1999 Istanbul Accord, but has not kept that promise. "The United States remains committed to a political settlement of the Transnistrian conflict and a reintegrated, sovereign Moldova," Rumsfeld said. "It is certainly the belief of NATO and the countries of the (Organization for Security and Cooperation In Europe) that commitments made in Istanbul some five years ago need to be fulfilled."

DoD Background Briefing Enroute to Maldova

Q: Is the United States in agreement that this is kind of a tinderbox, that there is a lot of instability [inaudible]?

A: It's unstable. It's an unstable situation, we recognize that. Now how unstable, I mean the ceasefire has largely held for 10 to 12 years now, but the seeds of unrest were there and it could rapidly deteriorate without some sort of political settlement. So we recognize that it's inherently unstable. We believe there needs to be a [inaudible] resolution for the whole issue of the separatist region.

In all of these sort of ungoverned areas, and there are several of them throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union, the fact that they're ungoverned gives rise to corruption movement across borders of people, weapons, potential WMD threats. So we recognize in this instability, there's threats beyond say internal civil war related threats, but threats to the wider region.

I mean Ukraine bordering as it does on Maldova or on Trans-Dniestria, there are difficulties along the border there with movement back and forth. So as a general rule, any ungoverned area like this is a potential threat not only locally but to the wider region.

Q: A lot of complaints that the Russians are getting an undue share of the influence in terms of a settlement of all of this issue and that the opposition in Maldova is much more pro-trans-Atlantic, pro-Western European oriented, but they're being sort of rolled over by the Russians. But with American compliance in that there really isn't a Western or an American negotiating partner. It's OSCE of which Russia is a member. Russia gets [inaudible] by consensus. Then Russia itself, then Ukraine which is very pro-Russian. Romania is not involved, and Romania should be involved. And people will argue that the danger here is that this place on the border of NATO now possibly going to be the EU, could become a Russian satellite.

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