NATO Declares in Lisbon It Is No Threat to Russia

Defense | November 20, 2010, Saturday // 03:01|  views

US President Barack Obama , French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron attend the family photo session of the NATO summit . EPA/BGNES

For the first time in its history NATO has explicitly declared that it poses no threat to Russia, according to its new Strategic Concept adopted at the Lisbon Summit.

"Tomorrow, we look forward to working with Russia to build our cooperation with them in this area as well, recognizing that we share many of the same threats," US President Barack Obama, as cited by DPA, declared on Friday, after the end of the first day of the Lisbon Summit, the highest forum of the Alliance since the Bucharest Summit in April 2008.

On the second day of the Summit, Saturday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will be joining the heads of state of the 28 NATO member states for a NATO-Russia meeting when Obama and the other NATO leaders are to invite Russia to start talks for joining the future NATO ballistic-missile shield in Europe that they approved on Friday.

The new Strategic Concept of the Alliance emphasize its desire to cooperate and partner with Russia. It states that the NATO-Russia relations will be based on the goals, principles, and obligations in the NATO-Russia Fundamental Act and the Rome Declaration – with respect to the recognition of democratic principles, sovereignty, and territorial integrity in the Euro-Atlantic region.

The document states that despite some disagreements the NATO members are convinced that Russia and the Pact are connected and that stable cooperation will benefit the security of both sides.

The Concept outlines several areas of cooperation with Russia based on mutual interest. Those include ballistic-missile defense, fight against terrorism, drugs and piracy, and the support for international stability.

In Lisbon, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged the US Senate to ratify the new US-Russia Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty warning that any delay in that would hurt the security and stability in Europe.

The Treaty was signed in April 2010 by Obama and Medvedev but is viewed unfavorably by the Republican Party in the US Senate; international media have pointed out that the Republicans, who made gains in the Senate in the mid-terms in early November are trying to delay the vote on the Treaty until the new Senate convenes in January 2011 when they will be able to refuse sufficient votes for its ratification.

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Tags: NATO, Russia, NATO-Russia Council, strategic concept, Dmitry Medvedev, Russian President, US President, Barack Obama, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General, START2

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