Clinton calls for closer NATO cooperation with Russia to reduce suspicions, build ties

Clinton urges closer NATO ties to Russia

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Monday for closer cooperation between Russia and NATO, the trans-Atlantic alliance that Moscow views with suspicion as a relic of the Cold War and a potential threat to its security.

In a speech launching an international seminar on revising NATO’s mission for the 21st century, Clinton rejected Russian calls for a new European security treaty that Washington believes would lead to a diluting of NATO’s influence in Europe and beyond.

“Let me state this unambiguously: While Russia faces challenges to its security, NATO is not among them,” she said. “We want a cooperative NATO-Russia relationship that produces concrete results and draws NATO and Russia closer together.”

Among Russia’s chief concerns is NATO’s intention to offer membership to the former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia. It also is troubled by U.S. plans to place anti-missile defensive weapons in Romania and possibly other eastern European nations.

Clinton called for more military openness between NATO and Russia. Relations were frozen in the months after Russian fought a war with Georgia in 2008.

“European security will benefit if NATO and Russia are more open about our armaments, our military facilities, and our exercises,” she said. “NATO and Russia should have a regular exchange of information on posture, doctrine, and planned military exercises, as well as specific measures to permit observation of military exercises and to allow visits to new or significantly improved military installations.”

Later, in a question-and-answer session with her audience in a hotel ballroom, Clinton was asked whether she can imagine the day when Russia becomes a NATO member — given that the Soviet Union’s military might was the reason NATO was created in 1949.

“I can imagine it,” she replied. “I’m not sure the Russians can imagine it.”

More broadly, Clinton said NATO needs to revise its basic doctrine, known as its “strategic concept,” to take into account the changing nature of threats faced by alliance member countries.

A group of experts led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is working to update NATO’s strategic concept. It was last revised in 1999, before the alliance began substantial military operations beyond its borders — most notably in Afghanistan.

The new concept is expected to be formally adopted at an alliance summit in November in Lisbon, Portugal. NATO nations had a major falling out over the Iraq war in 2003, with several, including France, Germany and Belgium, opposing it and blocking alliance participation.

NATO’s basic purpose has changed little, Clinton said.

“I believe that the original tenets of NATO’s mission — defending our nations, strengthening trans-Atlantic ties, and fostering European integration — still hold,” she said. What needs to change is how the alliance pursues its goals, she added.

“As any good soldier knows, success in a protracted struggle is not simply a matter of having more troops or better equipment. It’s also a function of how effectively you adapt to new circumstances,” she said. “You don’t win by fighting the last war.”

She cited the example of recognizing that NATO is now engaged in combating security threats far beyond the borders of its member nations.

“Many threats we face have little or no respect for borders,” she said. “Whether we’re battling piracy, the menace of terrorism, or the prospect of weapons proliferation, we must be prepared to address new dangers regardless of where they originate.”