Clinton challenges Russia to cooperate with US to counter new threats in Europe

Clinton says it is up to Russia to cooperate

PARIS — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday challenged Russia to cooperate with the Obama administration and with NATO to ensure European security against new threats such as terrorism, cyber attacks or natural disasters.

Citing a wide array of differences between Washington and Moscow, Clinton called for Russia’s leadership to drop its opposition to a European missile shield and its demands to renegotiate a Cold War-era treaty limiting the deployment of troops and conventional weapons on the continent.

In a speech at France’s Ecole Militaire in Paris, she said Europe should not be divided as it has been in the past and that Russian ambitions to maintain a zone of influence in former Soviet satellites, some of which are now NATO members or aspirants, were obsolete.

“We object to any spheres of influence in Europe in which one country seeks to control another’s future,” she said, referring specifically to Georgia and territorial disputes over its enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both of which Russia recognizes as independent.

Russia has made several proposals on European security cooperation that some believe are aimed at limiting NATO’s influence. But Clinton said security matters are best dealt with through existing frameworks. Negotiating new treaties, as Russia suggested, “can a very long and cumbersome process,” she said.

And all European nations should be eligible for NATO membership, she said, rejecting Russian objections to the expansion of the alliance toward its borders.

“We strongly believe that the enlargement of NATO and the EU has increased security, stability, and prosperity across the continent and that this, in turn, has actually increased Russia’s security,” Clinton said.

Also key to European security and stability is the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, which Russia unilaterally suspended two years ago, she said. The treaty governs where and how many troops and conventional weapons can be stationed on European soil.

“This valuable regime is now in danger of crumbling,” Clinton said, urging Russia to join in discussions to ensure the treaty is once again the “cornerstone” of conventional arms control.

Clinton said the United States and Russia are close to concluding a new START treaty to reduce the size of Cold War arsenals in both nations. The old treaty expired last year, but both nations say they will abide by it during talks on a new one.

The threat behind the old START treaty — a nuclear war as an option by the governments of two well-armed nations — has changed, Clinton said.

“Now we face increased threats — that nuclear materials will fall into the wrong hands, or that certain states will develop or even use nuclear weapons.”

To combat that threat, she reiterated that the U.S. was in favor of a missile shield for Europe, something that Russia has long resisted even after the Obama administration scrapped former President George W. Bush’s plans for it.

Clinton renewed offers to cooperate with the Russians on missile defense, saying: “We are serious about exploring ways to cooperate with Russia to develop missile defenses that enhance the security of all of Europe, including Russia.”