– NATO...Are Its Final Days Just Ahead

Russia, NATO relations take turn for worse
The Associated Press

MOSCOW - The conflict between Russia and NATO widened yesterday, a day after President Vladimir Putin threatened to pull out of a key European arms-control treaty if no agreement was reached on a planned U.S. missile shield in Central Europe.

At a meeting of the alliance in Oslo, Norway, the two sides clashed over issues including independence for Kosovo and NATO expansion into Eastern Europe.

But in Moscow, Mr. Putin focused on his objections to the missile shield plan.

These systems will control Russian territory up to the Urals -- if, of course, we do not take action in response and we will," Mr. Putin said after meeting with Czech President Vaclav Klaus. The Ural Mountains sit hundreds of kilometres inside Russia, dividing Europe from Asia.

The U.S. says it wants to install interceptor missiles and radar systems in the Czech Republic and Poland to counter the threat of attack by countries such as Iran, which is pursuing a nuclear program and long-range missiles.

Mr. Putin dismissed that motive, saying Russia was ready to prove "with the very simplest documents that neither terrorists ... nor Iran nor North Korea" has missiles that would require such a defence system. In Iran's case, "they are not foreseen in the near future," he said.

At the NATO meeting in Norway, officials stressed the need for more talks with Russia to cool down the dispute.

"An escalation has to be avoided," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.

James Appathurai, the chief NATO spokesman, said the alliance was still seeking clarification of what Mr. Putin's comments Thursday would mean for the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, which limits the number and locations of military aircraft, tanks and other non-nuclear weapons in Europe.

"The relationship between Russia and NATO is a fundamental strategic bridge which we all need," Mr. Appathurai said. "Nobody can ignore concern over the rising level of rhetoric over a range of strategic issues."

Mr. Putin's threat will not sway NATO to drops its demands for Russia to pull troops out of Georgia and Moldova, the alliance's secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said yesterday. "There is no change and there will be no change in the position of the allies," he told a news conference.

Russia and the Western allies also disagreed over Kosovo. NATO restated support for a UN plan that would grant Kosovo independence from Serbia under international supervision, and urged Russia to lift its objections so the plan could move quickly through the UN Security Council.

Speaking in Norway, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gave no sign that Russia, which has threatened to veto the plan in the UN Security Council, had any intention of relaxing its position.

The NATO foreign ministers also pushed forward plans to invite Croatia, Macedonia and Albania to the alliance early next year if they meet membership conditions. Russia has opposed successive enlargements of NATO into Eastern Europe.