Translated material
Russia is again in a triangle
Now with NATO and EU
Today, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov arrives in Morocco, this is the second point of his Mediterranean tour. Yesterday, this country unexpectedly found itself in the spotlight after leaks appeared in the American press that the United States had allegedly agreed with Rabat to provide asylum to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The Middle East settlement was one of the main topics of yesterday's negotiations between Mr. Ivanov in Madrid and the leading troika of the European Union. However, international mediators have nothing to boast about: as both Russians and Europeans admit, all attempts to achieve a ceasefire are completely ineffective.The parties also discussed preparations for the next Russia-EU summit, which will be held in Moscow on May 28. It is planned to adopt a political statement on the new architecture of European security and the foundations of interaction in Europe between Russia, the EU, NATO, the OSCE, and the USA. In Moscow’s view, it is time to move from exchanging views to developing joint recommendations and initiatives on issues of European security and defense policy. Currently, active development of a new Russia-NATO cooperation mechanism is underway according to the “20” formula, the actual content of which still seems problematic. There is a lot of talk, primarily about cooperation in the field of peacekeeping, but the partners are clearly shying away from making concrete decisions in this area together with Russia. On the other hand, relations between the EU and NATO in this area are also not yet established. The Europeans hope to reach an agreement with the Alliance on the admission of the EU's rapid reaction forces (RRF) to NATO planning structures. The September peacekeeping debut of the RRF, which is to replace NATO forces in the Macedonian Operation Amber Fox, depends on reaching an agreement.
“As for the NATO-EU-Russia triangle, it is not equilateral and is not isosceles, but has different aspects from different sides,” said yesterday, answering a question from the Vremya Novostey newspaper, the EU representative for foreign policy and security Javier Solana. -- NATO continues to be the main military treaty for the security of Europe, and we are engaged in dialogue with Russia to achieve the best format for relations. The European Union is an organization that can use force to achieve peace, and here the role of our Russian friends is also great.” “I find it difficult to say whether this cooperation will ever acquire the character of a triangle or some other figure,” Igor Ivanov noted in response to the same question. - Today we are negotiating with the EU on issues of interest in the field of foreign policy and defense. At the same time, we are negotiating with NATO to reach a new level of partnership relations, in the G20 format. We believe that one should not replace the other, but on the contrary, these are two processes running in parallel and complementing each other. And the goal is one - to create structures and mechanisms that would strengthen European security.”