Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer urged the Russian Federation on Thursday to lift punitive sanctions against its southern neighbour Georgia during a visit that was intended to ease tensions between the Western military alliance and Moscow.
At a Kremlin meeting, the Nato chief and President Vladimir Putin accentuated the positive in what has long been a rocky relationship, with Putin citing less controversial areas such as Russian participation in a Nato naval exercise in the Mediterranean.
”Our cooperation is developing and developing successfully,” Putin said. ”We are cooperating in practical areas. This is very important for the whole international community.”
But De Hoop Scheffer later called for Russia to lift sanctions imposed on ex-Soviet Georgia this month in a serious diplomatic crisis over the arrest by Georgia of four Russian officers.
In what was the latest in a series of measures against Georgia, Russia cut transport links to the Caucasus nation as well as the sending of remittances through the Russian postal system.
”This is the moment for moderation and de-escalation on all sides. Also that means the sanctions … I would hope that the time has now come to lift these measures,” De Hoop Scheffer told journalists.
He rejected claims made by Russian officials that Nato had encouraged ex-Soviet Georgia to take a more aggressive stance towards Russia when it offered Tbilisi ”intensified dialogue” in September.
That offer was seen by the pro-Western leadership in Georgia as encouragement of its ambitions to join Nato.
”Georgia has an intensified dialogue with Nato but that should be de-linked from what is happening. The only plea I’m making is for moderation,” de Hoop Scheffer said.
Other Russian officials made no bones about their concern at the activities of Nato, still associated by many in Russia with Cold War-era aggression.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier that De Hoop Scheffer’s meeting in the Kremlin would focus on Russian concerns over Nato’s eastward expansion and United Sattes plans to deploy a missile defence system in Eastern Europe.
”Nato knows that Russia’s concerns are well-founded and have substance,” Lavrov told ITAR-TASS news agency.
Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov also alluded to the sophisticated missile defence system that would be linked with facilities in the US, after he met the Nato chief.
”It does necessitate changes in the established plans of our military construction and … precautionary measures,” Ivanov was quoted by Interfax as saying.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow has been forced to watch from the sidelines as three former Soviet republics — Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania — as well as several Warsaw Pact partners have joined the Western alliance.
Nato insists it does not see Russia as an enemy, but for new members and for hopefuls such as Georgia, membership of the alliance signals an historic opportunity to escape what in some cases are centuries of Russian dominance. — AFP
