Putin Says Moscow May Rethink NATO Growth

[blue_bird]

Russian Tectonic Shift?
Washington Post Service

BRUSSELS The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, declared Wednesday that Russia was prepared to reconsider its opposition to NATO expansion as part of a dramatic transformation in Russia's security relationship with Europe that he said must place a top priority on the fight against international terrorism.

Asserting that global politics had experienced a tectonic shift after the terrorist attacks in the United States, Mr. Putin said Russia was ready to reconsider opposition to NATO expansion if the alliance assumed a broader political identity and if Moscow could be drawn into the process.

Concluding a two-day visit to Brussels, where he met with European Union leaders and the NATO secretary-general, George Robertson, Mr. Putin said it was "high time to come up with practical solutions" to address changing priorities that have placed terrorism at the top of the global agenda.

Russia, he said, would start holding monthly consultations with EU authorities on how to thwart terrorist financing, share intelligence on criminal suspects, track false documents, and monitor movements of chemical, nuclear and biological materials.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Mr. Putin has won praise in Western capitals for his strong endorsement of an international campaign against terrorism and earned greater sympathy for Russia's brutal conflict with Muslim separatists in Chechnya.

He asserted that Osama bin Laden's terror network was aiding the Chechen rebels and said that deadly bombings of Russian apartment complexes in 1999 "bore the same signature" of Mr. bin Ladin, who is suspected of masterminding the suicide plane attacks in New York and Washington. The Belgian prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, called the pledge to combat terrorism "a gigantic step forward" toward a new strategic partnership between Russia and the EU. He said the monthly consultations would serve as "an important political pillar of cooperation" in the rapidly warming ties between Russia and Europe.

In Moscow, Mr. Putin's avid courtship of the EU and NATO was seen as a decisive bid to plant Russia firmly within the Western camp. "This is a new level of relations between Russia and the West," said Sergei Chugrov, a senior researcher with the Institute of World Economy. "Russia's main goal is to find its place, not on the margins of world policy, but as part of the civilized world together with the U.S. and Europe." Dmitri Trenin, deputy director of the Carnegie Center in Moscow, said that in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks there was "a tremendous new opportunity" for Russia to integrate with the West. "It's just too weak to act as a first-rate pole between China and Europe," he said.The European Union has already agreed to a long-term "energy dialogue" designed to expand Europe's imports of Russian oil and natural gas and reduce the Continent's dependence on energy supplies from the Middle East. As Russia's main trading partner, the 15-member European Union promised to accelerate efforts to help Russia join the World Trade Organization, a campaign it has waged in vain for the past eight years. EU officials said they would assist Moscow in devising and implementing the necessary economic reforms to follow China in becoming a WTO member. Mr. Putin complained that unfair demands had been placed on his country, but he said that Russia was willing to comply with intellectual property rights, drop tariff barriers, reduce farm subsidies and adjust foreign trade laws to meet WTO requirements. He also emphasized his desire to see Russia abandon its adversarial stance toward the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which for the past 52 years was regarded by many Russians as their mortal enemy.

Mr. Putin outlined his plans for a more cooperative approach in an hourlong conversation with Lord Robertson and promised to elaborate further in discussions with President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain. Mr. Putin said he expected Mr. Blair to visit Moscow soon.

Mr. Putin said the challenge posed by global terrorism was forcing his country to take "an entirely new look" at NATO's enlargement plans. At a summit meeting next year, NATO's members will consider the next wave of expansion that could include Baltic states once incorporated into the Soviet Union.

Russia had previously drawn a "red line" against NATO encroachment on former Soviet territory, but Mr. Putin's remarks in Brussels showed that he was revising his thinking. "If NATO takes on a different shade and is becoming a political organization, of course we would reconsider our position with regard to such expansion, if we are to feel involved in such processes," Mr. Putin said. "They keep saying that NATO is becoming more political than military. We are looking at this and watching this process. If this is to be so, it would change things considerably."

While cautious about the notion that Russia one day could become a member of the military alliance, Lord Robertson said he was delighted with the tone and substance of his talks with Mr. Putin.

"These discussions mark a major milestone in the NATO-Russia relationship," he said. "We have identified a number of new areas where NATO and Russia can work together."

[Ragnvald]

I wish I will be proved wrong in my prediction that 60 more years are required to integrate Russia into Europe.

This newly formed alliance can be proved short lived.

European and US public opinions are not ready to see Russia as an ally. People's beliefs and prejudices can't be changed overnight. A lot of money were spent to form anti-russian attitude.

Still Putin is not all Russia. And for the last 10 years anti-american and anti-european sentiments in Russia really gained momentum (especially after bombing of Serbia).
Russians felt betrayed.
So it's still quite arguable that Duma and public opinion will support Putin.

What if in the future NATO will go for confrontation with Iran or Iraq again. Russia doesn't have such world wide market like US and EU, it needs whatever it can get. In this case Iraqes and Iranian markets. It simply needs every cent. Third of Russian population lives below poverty line.
So if in the future NATO will do something unpopular with russian public opinion, Putin will be history. Soviet times are over. Russians learned to stand up for their rights for the last 10 years.
And Communists are waiting in the bushes for their chance.

Does Russia really need this WTO? It needs to get its other than energy and defence industries up to world standards.
Major Russian revenues are from energy exports and arms sales. These two things can be sold without any WTO.

I wish someone can correct me in this.