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Shared Interests the Key to NATO-Russia Relations |
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By Victoria Whall MOSCOW, May 22, 2002 -- The Working Group on NATO-Russia Relations was developed in the autumn of 2002 by RAND cooperation and the Institute for U.S. and Canada Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Set up both to support work going on at NATO Headquarters and to "see whether there are any additional ideas" on how to proceed, the group's latest white paper was unveiled at a press conference at ITAR-TASS on Tuesday. A working group chaired by Sergei M. Rogov and Robert E. Hunter recommends that Russia and NATO take a "cooperation first" approach to their new relationship. Rather than agreeing on a set of rules and procedures for cooperation, leaving the definition of areas of common interest for a later date, a white paper compiled by the working group reads, NATO and Russia should determine and develop areas of cooperation and only then work out what institutions would be needed. The working group writes: "There is great virtue in seeking areas where interests are shared, where consensus decision making is possible, where the stakes - at least initially - are relatively modest in terms of any differences of viewpoint between NATO and Russia, and where work that is actually done can be of inherent value while also increasing mutual confidence in the process." The executive summary of the paper, entitled NATO and Russia: Bridge- Building for the 21st Century suggests that NATO and Russia should seek to start or at least plan what it calls "demonstration projects" so that early successes can boost confidence in the partnership. It says identifying specific projects, even of they are of a limited nature, is the most effective way forward. The working group, made up of Russian and American specialists with experience in Soviet-U.S., Russia-U.S. relations, European security and NATO, warns early on in the summary that each party should take special care to consider the repercussions of its actions, especially with regard to Iraq. This would guard the new council against the problems faced by its predecessor, the Permanent Joint Council, which in their opinion suffered because Russia and NATO had differences of interest and viewpoint over Kosovo. Two areas in which dialogue between Russia and NATO should begin are counter-terrorism and emergency response to natural and man-made disasters, the report says. These are areas in which the two sides already have common ground. Furthermore, the white paper adds that despite existing contention on non-proliferation and peacekeeping, they too are areas in which the two sides can cooperate. Russian officials and military officers need to be involved in the planning and preparation of NATO-Russia Council meetings if relations are to build mutual confidence, the experts say. At the same time, provisions should be made for Russian liaison with NATO's International Staff and International Military Staff. Both these provisions will facilitate consensus decision-making. Although NATO, Russia, the United States and the remaining NATO members will want to retain their sovereign right to act independently, the paper recommends that the new NATO-Russia Council function on the principle that when a consensus decision is reached all sides should abide by that decision. © Russian Observer, 2002. Distributed in partnership with Globalvision News Network (www.gvnews.net). All rights reserved.
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