Nato and Russia on Friday exchanged concepts for a joint missile defence shield and agreed on a joint maintenance fund for Afghan helicopters, in a two-day meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Berlin. The joint steps marked a new period of co-operation between Nato and Russia, entered into last November at Nato's Lisbon summit after the 2008 war in Georgia had soured relations between the two.
"I am happy to report that the Nato-Russia Council is in good shape," said Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. On Thursday, Nato ministers had agreed to conditions for an end to their campaign on Libya and discussed their security handover in Afghanistan. Friday's talks focused on the bloc's partnerships with Russia, Georgia and Ukraine.
Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the dialogue with Russia over the prospects of a joint missile defence shield was "very constructive, "but conceded, "it is obviously a challenging job.
"We have not agreed on how to build (a common missile defence) architecture. But it is about a common objective, namely the effective protection of populations, in Russia as well as Nato countries, against a real threat," Rasmussen said. The Nato chief said he envisaged two separate systems "with a common objective," run by Natoand Russia respectively, which co-operated closely and shared data.
Diplomats said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had proposed a single system with a "sectoral approach," in which Nato monitored countries to the south-west and Russia monitored eastern states - including Iran. "The programme should be based on an equal footing and should not provide risks for strategic stability," Lavrov said, adding that both parties were drawing up proposals that could be considered at a meeting in June.
In the past, Russia has expressed fears that joint missile defence programmes - such as abandoned US plans to install a defence shield in Poland - could upset the strategic balance of weapons between Nato and Russia. Russia and Nato also pledged roughly 8 million dollars toward a fund to maintain Afghanistan's Russian-made military helicopters. Russia and Germany were expected to provide 3.5 and 3 million dollars respectively towards what Rasmussen described as "training, spare parts and tool kits for three squadrons of Afghan helicopters.
"Afghanistan remains Nato's most important mission," Rasmussen said, adding that the blochad discussed the enduring partnership which would remain in place after withdrawing its final troops from Afghanistan in 2014. Nato's talks with Russia also included the crisis in Libya, and Lavrov praised Rasmussen's insistence that the deployment of ground troops, as well as arms delivery to rebels, were not compatible with the UN Security Council resolution providing Nato's Libyamandate.
At the same time, Lavrov warned Nato to follow a "stringent and responsible" implementation of the mandate. "The UN Security Council has not authorised activities to change the regime in Libya," Lavrov said. The 28 Nato foreign ministers also met their Georgian counterpart, Gregory Vashadze, and praised the country's reform process, while also warning that more was needed - including greater democratic, electoral and judicial reform - before the country could join Nato.
Nato reaffirmed its "support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia," Rasmussen said, in light of Russia's continued influence in Georgia's breakaway territories. In a meeting of the Nato-Ukraine commission, Rasmussen said a recently approved national annual programme was a "tangible expression" of a pledge by President Viktor Yanukovych to further "active political dialogue and practical co-operation" with Nato. Ukraine's new Moscow-friendly government is not pursuing Nato membership but wishes to retain strong ties to the alliance.