Nato's 'Unfriendly' Expansion Worries Russia

Scotsman.com ^ | 29 Mar 2004 | "PA" News

[Tailgunner Joe]

A senior Russian MP warned today of a growing rift between Nato and Moscow as the military alliance expands to include seven former Soviet-dominated nations.

President George Bush was today to formally welcome the new members into the 55-year-old alliance, set up during the Cold War to shield the West from Soviet military might.

While Russia’s relationship with Nato has improved in recent years and the former foes work together to combat threats such as terrorism, Moscow is wary about Nato’s creeping proximity.

“Nato’s steps have had an unfriendly character toward Russia,” said Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the international affairs committee in Russia’s lower house of parliament.

Of particular concern to Russia is the entrance into Nato of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. All are former Soviet republics which just 15 years ago were home to more than 100,000 Red Army soldiers, but today have eagerly turned West.

Nato has agreed to include three Baltic states under its air defence shield, planning to enforce it by stationing four F-16 fighter planes in Lithuania. The planes will make regular flights near Russia’s border, close enough to conduct reconnaissance.

“If significant Nato military bases appear near Russia’s borders and change the balance of forces in this region, then we can’t exclude that Russia will consider the possibility of taking corresponding action so that the balance is not breached,” Kosachyov said.

Asked what those measures might encompass, he said boosting Russia’s own military deployments in north-west Russia – but he added this was a development no one wanted.

A former Russian Air Force commander, General Anatoly Kornukov, suggested a harsher response: shooting down Nato planes.

“If (a plane) violates the air space, shoot it down without ceremony and be done with it,” he said. “A warplane is a warplane ... after all, they are not flying for their own pleasure.”

Nato has tried to reassure Russia that the expansion is not directed against Moscow. US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Russia should not view the bigger Nato as a threat, but as a partner.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Russia is not threatened by the deployment of the four planes. But Russian concerns are still expected to dominate Friday’s planned Nato-Russia meeting in Brussels.

Topping Russia’s list of demands is that the new Nato member states sign up to the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, which regulates the deployment of warplanes, tanks and other heavy non-nuclear weapons.

Kosachyov said that Nato gave Russia assurances that only ”essential, usual weapons” – not nuclear – will be placed on the territory of new members.

“But what essential, usual weapons are, no one knows,” he said.

Russia is also concerned about the European Union’s expansion eastward on Thursday to include 10 new nations. The EU and Russia have a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement but Moscow has balked at extending it to the new nations, fearing it would lose trade and travel rights.

[Tailgunner Joe]

NATO chief says 'some nuts to crack' in Russia relations

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he did not believe the expansion would cause new tension with Russia but acknowledged there were problems over the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treat which limits troop numbers in eastern Europe.

"There are some nuts to crack, of course," he said.

"When I say we have some nuts to crack it's, of course, Russian worries about the effectiveness of the CFE treaty. NATO worries about the Russians still having their forces in Moldova-Transdniestra and Georgia," he said.

Nevertheless, he said, "NATO needs a partnership with the Russians. It's in NATO's interest and at the same time it is in Russia's interest that we have a strong partnership."

De Hoop Scheffer said it was good sign that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov plans to attend a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels Friday, the same day NATO will formally welcome in its new members.

The NATO chief said he planned to visit Moscow in early April, and would see Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov Monday at a Russia-NATO meeting on terrorism in Norfolk, Virginia.

De Hoop Scheffer spoke shortly before the seven new members deposited instruments of accession to NATO at a ceremony here, effectively expanding the alliance to 26 members.

The new members include four from the former East bloc -- Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Slovenia -- and the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

Admission of the Baltic countries has been the bitterest pill for Moscow to swallow.

Russian officials last week warned that Moscow might build up its nuclear forces in response to the expansion, and expressed concern over NATO air patrols over the Baltics, which de Hoop Scheffer said were set to begin Monday.

"Without doubt, NATO's expansion touches Russia's political, military and, to a certain extent, economic interests," Russia's top foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko reaffirmed Monday in an official statement released in Moscow.

The statement underlined that the three states and Slovenia have not signed up to the CFE as they did not exist as independent nations when the treaty was signed. The limbo status could leave open the possibility of NATO stationing unlimited number of troops at Russia's western front.

Moscow also fears NATO air patrols over the Baltics will be used to spy on its territory.

De Hoop Scheffer said the decision to use NATO fighters to patrol the Baltics was fully explained to Lavrov when it was taken two weeks ago by the alliance's decision-make North Atlantic Council.

"At this very moment fighters are in the air to land at Lithuania airport very shortly," he said.

"It's NATO airspace and NATO airspace has always been patrolled and covered, which will always be the case when later today the alliance will be formally enlarged by seven new member states," he said.

- AFP

[Poohbah]

Look at it this way: suppose the Cold War had ended in 1989 with a reunified Germany joining the Warsaw Pact, along with France and Benelux (hmm, given their stance lately in the War on Terror, maybe they did just that and didn't tell anyone :o)

15 years later, Canada joins the Warsaw Pact and a few Russian fighters are based in Windsor.

Would we be overly thrilled with that turn of events?

NATO expansion was handled in a very non-adroit manner by the Clinton Administration--along with damn near every other aspect of foreign affairs.

[Will_Zurmacht]

I still think one of the great tragedies of the 90's was that at a crucial time in history, as US-Russian relations began anew, both countries were led by men of a lesser calibre.

I'm not saying things would have been much better, but imagine in 92 that Bush I is reelected and Gorby, or a non-vodka soaked Russian (ie not Yeltsin) led the new Russia.

Alternative History is popular because it is usually better than the real thing.

[Blue Highway]

'“But what essential, usual weapons are, no one knows,” he said.'

Here are a few clues...

[VeniVidiVici]

“If (a plane) violates the air space, shoot it down without ceremony and be done with it,” he said.

Oh, oh. We better switch our scout planes over to Cessnas.

Though I agree Clinton screwed this up, Russia better be looking south. The threat will not come from east or west.

[LenS]

Well, the war didn't end that way. They lost. Now they can either continue to play footsie with our enemies in the Middle East (and France) or they can work to join with us. Either Russia is with us or they are our enemy (and doomed).

[zinochka]

NATO expansion was handled in a very non-adroit manner by the Clinton Administration--along with damn near every other aspect of foreign affairs.

Expecially since Ronald Reagan promised Gorbachev that NATO would never expand right up to Russia borders. Clinton broke Reagan's word and basicly rubbed Russia's nose in it.