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Untitled Document George Robertson: I Would not Exclude Russia Joining NATO in the Future (excerpted) Interfax October 28, 2003
In an exclusive interview, granted to Interfax ahead of his farewell visit to Moscow, NATO Secretary General George Robertson speaks about his feelings on the eve of his upcoming visit to Russia and says what advice he will give his successor.
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Interfax: The Russian Defence Ministry's recent open doctrine for modernising the armed forces warns that Russia will revise its military development plans, including its nuclear strategy, if NATO remains a military alliance with an offensive military doctrine.
Furthermore, the doctrine says Russia "is closely following the process of NATO's transformation and expects that direct and indirect anti Russian components will be removed from both the military planning and the political declarations of member countries of the alliance." May we have your comments?
Robertson: The recent _white paper_, as our Russian colleagues call it - they've told us repeatedly that it's not, in fact, an official _doctrine_ - has attracted quite a bit of attention at NATO. Certainly, we welcomed this unprecedented degree of openness and transparency with regard to the challenges Russia faces in the area of defence modernisation. Many of these challenges are shared by NATO member states and Russia alike. It is clear that we can do more to benefit from each other's experience in this area. We share many of the strategic threats identified in the document, from terrorism to proliferation to arms trafficking and regional instability, We also welcomed the fact that the accomplishments of the NATO-Russia Council were recognised so prominently.
At the same time, we have some questions about parts of the document. We believe that continuing to identify NATO as a potential _threat_ is inconsistent with the spirit of the partnership we launched at Rome. These are stereotypes we need to confront head-on. We also have some questions about how some statements about the need to protect the interests of Russians living outside Russia might be interpreted. I think this highlights the need for further dialogue. Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov and Ambassador Totskiy have begun this process. The Deputy Head of the General Staff, General Baluyevskiy, will be in Brussels next week, and will continue this dialogue. But dialogue and transparency need to go beyond senior officials, and need to run two ways. If many in Russia believe that today's NATO has an _offensive military doctrine_ or retains _anti-Russian elements_, then we in NATO also need to do a better job of explaining to Russian colleagues and the Russian people our perspectives as well.
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