NATO Expands for Another 10 Years

At the summit in Lisbon the Alliance will adopt a new strategic concept, which will include a new vision of relations with Russia

A two-day NATO summit opened in Lisbon yesterday. This summit has been already claimed to be the most important in the Alliance’s history. The heads of 28 states are to adopt a new strategic concept and to complete a reset in relations with Russia. In particular, the NATO invites Russia to take part in deployment of the integrate system of anti-missile defense in Europe. The Kremlin has already expressed its willingness to agree to the invitation, but only if the key issues will be decided on basis of equality.

Before the summit opening, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen claimed this event to be one of the most important one in the more than 60-year history of the Alliance. U.S. President Barack Obama noted that the meeting in Lisbon “will revitalize the alliance for the 21st century.” Such significance is given to the summit in Lisbon because there the head states of 28 NATO members will discuss a new strategic concept that will determine the future of the Alliance for 10 years to come. In particular, NATO is going to deal with such global challenges as extremism, terrorism, piracy and illegal migrations.

“As a matter of fact, the Alliance tries to be involved in everything and everywhere, to have the potential to campaign simultaneously against two large regional powers and to be capable of repelling attacks — first at a distance, and, second, well in advance,” explained Dmitriy Rogozin, the permanent representative of Russia to NATO, before the summit.

At the same time, in Lisbon the members of the Alliance have decided to concentrate their efforts not only on discussing NATO’s inner problems but also on developing cooperation with partners. In particular, Angela Merkel remarked that this summit “could prove to be a ‘milestone’ in the Alliance’s relations with Russia.” “It could be a … new phase of cooperation between NATO and Russia,” she added. Chancellor Merkel also attached importance to Russia’s President Medvedev coming to Lisbon. Today he is going to meet with heads of NATO member states, and it will be the first Russia-NATO Council session at high level after the war in Georgia.

The officials in Washington share the views of German chancellor. Yesterday the permanent representative of the U.S. to NATO, Ivo Daalder, said that the summit is an opportunity for Russia and the NATO countries to complete the reset akin to that one the U.S. and Russia have had in their bilateral relations. In his opinion, the successful completion of work connected to the assessment of common threats and challenges demonstrates that both parties are willing to negotiate.

However, if common threats are assessed, the framework of NATO-Russia relationship still needs to be established. The Kremlin does not confirm Russia’s joining the deployment of system of anti-missile defense in Europe. Yesterday, Sergey Prikhod’ko, assistant to the Russian president, pointed out that, in the middle-term perspective, implementation of this project provided by political will does not create insurmountable difficulties. But Russia does have a condition, which is that partners must be equal deciding on the key issues and assigning areas of responsibility.

At the summit in Lisbon the NATO leaders are planning to enhance cooperation with Russia on Afghanistan. Scheduled for today’s session is the signing of an agreement on NATO transit of military equipment to Afghanistan through Russian territory. Besides, Russia intends to come to an agreement on the delivery of 20 Mi-17 helicopters to Afghanistan and providing technical service to helicopters and training for Afghans.

At the same time, the summit in Lisbon is predicted to plunge the Russian delegation into gloom as some sore points for Russia can be mooted. “I would expect [Georgia] will be a topic of conversation in Lisbon since this is the first NATO-Russia Council meeting since the conflict in Georgia a couple years ago,” claimed Philip Crowley, the official spokesman of the U.S. State Department. That was an insistence of Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, who had arrived in Lisbon and yesterday night had to meet with Barack Obama in order to discuss the Euro-Atlantic prospects for Georgia, which does not give up on trying to become a member of the Alliance.