Without waiting

On the eve of a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at the level of defense ministers, where, in particular, Russia's idea of ​​​​creating a unified missile defense system was to be discussed, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance Anders Fogh Rasmussen made it clear that this very Russian idea was unsuitable. In an interview with Interfax, he said: “NATO cannot transfer to countries outside the alliance the collective defense responsibilities that bind NATO members. And the NATO territorial missile defense system will be part of such a collective defense mechanism.” However, Rasmussen said the alliance is interested in working closely with Russia on missile defense, so in his view it makes sense to talk about two “separate but connected systems that exchange data and give each other a clearer picture and better level of warning about possible threats.” At the same time, he assured our country that NATO’s expansion to the east would only strengthen Russia’s security: “The entry of new European democratic countries into NATO means an increase in the zone of stability and predictability.”

Of course, Rasmussen once again repeated one of the main NATO mantras of recent times: NATO is not an enemy of Russia and is not going to attack it. He added that the alliance has no plans to deploy significant weapons, including nuclear weapons, on the territory of new member countries.

Meanwhile, Russia, already irritated by the notorious expansion, was clearly not going to be satisfied with the idea of ​​two separate but linked missile defense systems. If the missile defense problem was not resolved, Russia threatened to withdraw from the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

Even before Rasmussen's current statement, Russian representatives stated that the upcoming discussion of the missile defense problem in NATO would be very difficult. Now it looks like it will be even more difficult.