Powell says NATO membership for Russia 'premature' By Lori Santos WASHINGTON, June 17 (Reuters) - After an initial presidential summit heralded as friendly and constructive, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday it was "premature to even suggest" Russia be invited to join NATO. Addressing the sensitive question after President George W. Bush returned from an inaugural European tour in which he met for the first time with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Powell said the Russian leader had not requested that NATO admit the former Soviet Union to the 19-member defense alliance. "I don't think he quite said he wanted to join NATO," Powell told the "Fox News Sunday" program. "As the president tried to convey to President Putin, Europe welcomes Russia and he wants to do everything he can to encourage Russia to become part of a broader Europe." Asked if that would include Russia joining NATO, Powell said, "I think it's premature to even suggest something like that." He noted Russia was not among the nine countries now officially aspiring to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which expanded in 1999 to include the first members of the former Warsaw Pact -- the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Russia has opposed expanding NATO to include several former Soviet satellites, which it says will bring the Western security alliance to Russia's borders. Putin on Saturday said he was suspicious of the U.S. claim that Russia need not fear an expanding NATO and dramatically produced a declassified Soviet note sent to NATO countries in 1954 seeking participation in Nato. 'NEW LINKAGES' Powell said the U.S-Russian relationship would focus on creating "new linkages" in such areas as trade and commerce, cultural exchanges and efforts to reform the security framework the leaders agreed upon at their first meeting, held on Saturday in Slovenia. These would include discussion of the anti-missile defense plan supported by Bush and opposed by Russia, he said. He said it would also "be very useful" for Russia to be a member of the World Trade Organization. Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, echoed Powell's assertion that the United States is now best allied with Russia only unofficially. "We are talking at this point about Russia allied with a little 'a', but we should never rule out anything," Rice told NBC's "Meet the Press" program. "This is a Europe that is changing, changing dramatically. And should Russia make important right choices about its future, about democracy, about free markets, about peaceful relations with its neighbors, Russia will be fully integrated into Europe." On CNN's "Late Edition," Senate Republican leader Trent Lott said, "I guess it is conceivable that in the future Russia could have some sort of relationship or formal role with NATO. ... I don't think we are there yet." The summit meeting was the climax of Bush's first overseas trip, which served to underscore the differences between the United States and Russia. On the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, at the heart of the debate over Bush's proposed national missile system, Powell said disagreement continued but "there are opportunities to move forward." Bush argues the treaty is outdated and Putin wants the ban on missile defenses maintained. "Are they holding to their position? Yes," Powell said. "Are we holding to our position that it's time to move forward? Yes. And now we have to begin the dialogue." And he declared the summit a success. "The purpose of the first meeting was not to get an agreement on anything in particular, it was to create a relationship between the presidents of two very important countries who had never met each other before," he told ABC. "And they succeeded." Miroslav Antic, http://www.antic.org/ Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
