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Russia Saved NATO from Disintegration

Wednesday, May 14, 2003
(1:47 PM)
Gazeta.Ru

Robertson stressed that hundreds of Russian experts from different ministries have gained invaluable experience by interacting with their NATO counterparts. Together, intelligence experts managed to come up with ways to work together in resisting terrorism. Nonproliferation experts have worked out methods of blocking the spread of ballistic nuclear missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while experts on peacekeeping, rescue at sea and other fields acted similarly, he said.

Image Credit: Gazeta.Ru

Russia has saved NATO from disintegration, believes NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson. Addressing the NATO-Russia Council session in Moscow on Tuesday, he said the efforts of both parties have helped NATO and Moscow to surmount disagreements on the issue of Iraq.

It was the first time that a NATO-Russia Council session had been held in Moscow. Furthermore, it is the first such meeting since May last year when the member-states of the alliance and Russia signed the Rome Declaration on establishing the Council and pledged to develop closer ties between Moscow and Brussels.

For a year now the relationship between Russia and NATO has been referred to not as ''19+1'' but as ''20''. On Monday evening George Robertson arrived in Moscow to review the year’s results.

At the session held in the luxury President Hotel George Robertson was seated between Russia’s two Ivanovs, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and the head of the Defence Ministry Sergei Ivanov. Addressing the session, Robertson lavishly praised the NATO-Russian Council. In the opinion of the NATO chief, the structure that came into being only a year ago, is already deserving of top marks.

Robertson said that he tells those who ask him whether there is any sense in the council to name any other international organization that has managed to do so much in such a short time. Later in his speech Robertson made some particularly surprising statements. For instance, he claimed that the joint actions of Russia and NATO have helped to preserve the integrity of the alliance, which, unlike the UN, torn by debates on Iraq, managed to overcome disagreements on the issue relatively quickly.
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Dan