In uniform

Met, we talking

October 23, 2008 Alexander Golts

As you know, when the guns say, the muse are silent. However, when politicians and diplomats bring the situation to the point that they cannot talk to each other, the generals begin to conduct dialogue. On March 21, in Finland, in a suburban residence removed from Helsinki, there was an unexpected meeting of the head of the Russian General Staff of the Army General Nikolai Makarov and the chairman of the Committee of the Chiefs of Staff of the United States, Admiral Michael Mulin.

The most curious thing is that, according to the Americans, the meeting took place on the initiative of the Russian side. This happened at the very moment when domestic politicians, including the most-most high-ranking ones, blame the States in all mortal sins and declare that Washington is much more than Moscow is interested in the development of relations between the two countries. “They themselves ruined - even they improve themselves,” our prime minister said not so long ago. Russian diplomats openly said that contacts on military-strategic issues were frozen for the next six months-until the moment when the new administration begins to work in Washington. And then it turned out that there are topics that should urgently discuss the highest military of the two states.

The fact that people with large stars suddenly turned out to be the main negotiators is no coincidence. During the Georgian-Russian war, Makarov and Mullen had several telephone conversations. According to American sources, Makarov guaranteed that no incidents will occur during the transfer of the Georgian brigade from Iraqi by US military transport aircraft, and also when the Black Sea will include human Navy ships. I suspect that the negotiations of the two military were not simple, but, apparently, at that very moment the mutual trust arose that Moscow decided to take advantage of.

From the rather mean official comments, it is completely unclear why there was a need for an urgent meeting in neutral territory. At the same time, the estimates of Americans and Russians are quite significantly vary. So General Makarov believes that when discussing the “duress to peace” Georgia, “we once again confirmed our assessment, which was positively perceived in principle.” From the words of Mulin, it follows completely different: "It is quite obvious that after what happened in Georgia, our relationship will not be the same." Later, having arrived in Latvia, he spoke even more definitely: "We are all preoccupied with the recent Russian invasion of Georgia." So a positive, even in principle, the assessment of Russian approaches here does not smell.

The same about the prospects of cooperation. Makarov states that representatives of the military leadership of the Russian Federation and the United States plan to discuss in November-December 2008 the issue of resuming the work of the Russian-NATO Council, whose work was frozen. Mullen is silent about this. However, he directly declares that after the war with Georgia it will no longer be possible to conduct business, as usual. This position of the admiral immediately after the completion of the negotiations was confirmed by the US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

However, Americans consider it important to continue interaction in some limited areas where interests coincide. This applies, for example, attempts to force Iran and North Korea to abandon their military nuclear programs, the fight against piracy on the seas, etc.

From the statements of Makarov and Mullen, it is completely incomprehensible why this meeting was required right now. If we are not talking about the preparation of an immediate joint military operation, such as the release of the crew of the Faina dry cargo, then the meeting took place for the very fact of the meeting. And most importantly, according to the head of the Pentagon, to maintain a direct channel of communication with the military leadership of Russia. After all, the only thing that Makarov and Mullen agreed is that they will constantly discuss “fundamental military issues” by phone. For some reason, in the coming months it will be needed ...