Kremlin 'pushing Nato divisions'
Dmitry Medvedev wants a deal based on states' "naked" interests
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Monday, 13, Apr 2009 09:15
Russian calls for a new security agreement based on each country's "naked" national interests may divide Nato further in 2009, security experts warned this week.
US academics Eugene Rumer and Angela Stent wrote that Russian backing for an arrangement which guarantees "equal security" to Russia and prevents one international organisation having "exclusive rights" to maintaining peace and stability in Europe may be taken more seriously this year.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev outlined his proposal in his first major foreign policy speech in Berlin in June 2008. He reiterated it in October as he criticised the "Nato-centric" approach to European security.
The authors, of the National Defence University and Georgetown University respectively, wrote: "This Russia idea could gain momentum in 2009, if only because it is a significant vehicle for the Kremlin to advance its claim that after the Georgia war Europe needs a new security paradigm, and that the west needs to treat Russia as an equal partner in setting the new agenda.
"In the absence of an active joint US-European effort to engage Russia on this issue, the Russian proposal could create further tensions within the alliance, especially if Moscow pursues bilateral diplomacy with select European capitals."
The writers argue Russia's military conflict with Georgia in August 2008 exposed divisions which already exist between Europe and the US on dealing with Russia.
In particular France and Germany proved reluctant to criticise Russia immediately because of their close relationship with the "large, sometimes awkward and difficult neighbour" to the east.
By contrast the US has taken a more "selective" approach. Although vice president Joe Biden earlier this year called for the "reset button" to be pressed, the authors pressed that initial American reactions to Mr Medvedev's proposal "ranged from polite puzzlement to outright dismissal".
In their article, published in the International Institute of Strategic Studies' journal Survival, the authors allege the Kremlin is deliberately seeking to keep Nato's members divided.
They state: "Moscow understands the differences between the US and European perspectives and has pursued policies that reinforce them."
The need for urgent cooperation on Nato expansion to Ukraine and Georgia, the war in Afghanistan and the Iranian nuclear programme as key issues that need immediate cooperation with Russia, they argue.
The authors suggest there is grounds for optimism, however, as Moscow seeks to reassert itself on the world stage.
"The lack of specificity in the proposal offers an opportunity to think creatively about how to engage Russia more productivity on these matters…. If it convinced Russia that the west was treating it as an equal, it could diminish the strength of the narrative that the west has ignored Moscow's interests in Europe," the authors noted.
"Not engaging seriously with the Kremlin on its initiatives would be irresponsible."