Security, but not the same

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov presented at a conference at the OSCE headquarters in Vienna the essence of President Medvedev's idea of ​​concluding a European Security Treaty (EST). According to Kommersant, the first thing the minister did was accuse NATO of violating the basic principle laid down in the 1999 Charter for European Security and in the documents of the Russia-NATO Council: not to strengthen its own security at the expense of others. Why, they say, are our partners plucking off pieces of the former territory of the Warsaw Pact countries and thereby moving towards our borders? But it is necessary, Lavrov continued, not to expand NATO, but to follow the advice of Russia. The DEB must make legally binding the basic principles of relations between states: respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-interference in internal affairs. States that have signed the treaty must refuse to station significant combat forces outside their territories and be faithful to the general principles of conflict resolution, “which will be uniformly applied to all crisis situations,” which primarily means avoiding forceful solutions.

The representative of Georgia, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Nalbandov attacked Lavrov. He asked, in general, a legitimate question: how can one advocate for compliance with the principle of territorial integrity and at the same time not comply with it? Having accused Russia of occupying his country, Nalbandov was indignant at how, in such a situation, Russia still allows itself to lecture about a new security system. In addition, he promised the Kommersant correspondent that Georgia would not agree to Russia’s entry into NATO. To be fair, it should be noted that Russia is not yet in a hurry to join NATO, and Georgia has not yet joined there.

Representatives of the European Union, the United States and Canada supported Georgia and recalled Russia’s recent veto in the UN Security Council, which led to the closure of the mission in Abkhazia. They called Russia's actions towards Georgia incorrect and once again confirmed the recognition of the territorial integrity of Georgia. And there is nothing to blame for the expansion of NATO: the countries that joined the alliance have become more prosperous, and this corresponds to Russia’s interests.

In the final, Lavrov, accusing his opponents of being illogical, himself made a somewhat illogical statement. Allegedly, Medvedev’s initiative on the DEB was put forward back in June 2008, that is, before the events in Georgia, and even Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has since promised that he would sign a document on the non-use of force. Therefore, there is no point in linking the agreement with the situation around Georgia. And yet, no matter how you look at it, the contradiction remains, and then it is necessary to either correct the principles or refuse to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But Lavrov made it clear to Kommersant that the latter was out of the question.