By Paul Ames
Recent exchanges between the Kremlin and NATO headquarters in Brussels have been marked by dueling espionage allegations, diplomats expelled, war games denounced and high-level talks canceled in anger.
The bombast has resembled the bad old Cold War days rather than the thaw expected after the Obama administration announced it wanted to "press the reset button" on Russian's strained relations with the West.
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A Georgian (R) and Turkish serviceman interact during joint NATO training activities, 30 km (18.6 miles) outside Tbilisi, at the Vaziani military base May 6, 2009. NATO began military exercises in Georgia on Wednesday in a move Russia said threatened stability in the region just nine months after a war between the former Soviet neighbours.[Xinhua]
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However, despite the tense rhetoric, a new modus vivendi may be emerging between Moscow and the Western alliance.
"We have an excellent opportunity to reset the relationship between the United States and Russia on a whole host of issues," US President Barack Obama told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Washington on Thursday.
Those issues, Obama said, include the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Afghanistan, the Middle East and the world economy.
Differences, however, run deep over the future of Ukraine, Georgia and other former Soviet republics which Moscow wants to prevent from joining the Western alliance. Many in the pro-Western camp in those nations fear a new US rapprochement with Russia could leave them out in the cold.
Russian opinion has been inflamed by the NATO military exercises in Georgia involving more than 1,000 troops from 18 countries that started Wednesday.
In reality, the maneuvers represent a consolation prize to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his pro-Western supporters whose aspirations of securing membership in the military alliance have all but evaporated following their military defeat at Russian hands last August.
Although official NATO policy still says Georgia and Ukraine will become members of the alliance, NATO expansion has been on the back burner since France and Germany -- under pressure from Russia -- postponed indefinitely the launch of a pre-membership program for the Black Sea nations at a summit last year in Bucharest.
Any lingering hopes have been dashed by European concern over the eternal political crisis in Ukraine and instability in Georgia since Russian-backed separatists in the South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions broke away following the August war.
All of this is good news for a Russian leadership that views the desire of neighboring states to seek closer ties to the West as a threat to its national security.
Although NATO initially curbed ties with Russia in response to the war in Georgia and Moscow's unilateral recognition of the breakaway regions, the alliance has been keen to avoid a permanent rift and had recently agreed to resume normal business under the NATO-Russia Council.
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Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola is seen at the start of a NATO Chiefs of Defence meeting at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels May 6, 2009.[Xinhua]
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