NATO opened its long-delayed military mission in Moscow on Monday, on the eve of a summit meeting in Rome intended to give Russia an equal say in formulating policy on some European security issues.
"This is a big change, because it will allow NATO countries, NATO and Russia, to discuss ... and take decisions on things to be done in collaboration in fields of security and military interests," said Italian Admiral Guido Venturioni, head of NATO's military committee.
He and Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, then cut a blue ribbon stretched across the entrance to the new office.
Some NATO officials see the new relationship to be inaugurated outside Rome on Tuesday as a painless gesture of support for Russia, which has been an enthusiastic member of the U.S.-led anti-terrorist coalition and has been pushing for more recognition as a top international player.
The new council is to replace a consultative body set up in May 1997 to ease Moscow's alarm over NATO's plans to include some of Russia's Soviet-era allies and neighbors. NATO officials optimistically described the arrangement as "19 plus one," while the Russians regarded it as "19 against one" a useless talk shop where their opinion made no difference.
The rupture over the NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia underlined the fragility of the council. Moscow abruptly terminated almost all cooperation with NATO, and plans to open a military mission in Moscow were frozen.
Under the 1997 agreement, NATO and Russia consulted only after the NATO allies had negotiated their own consensus and the NATO position was set. Some NATO members were loath to engage Russia and some Russian members of the joint council refused to take part in working groups, said a diplomatic source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
This time, Russian diplomats will be in on the negotiations from the beginning. No less important, they will have access to the informal discussions where many positions are initially hammered out.
Venturioni also met Monday with Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who praised the agreement as promoting "a new quality of relations between Russia and NATO," in a report by Interfax-Military News Agency.
(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2002)
