Post by Ken on Dec 7, 2010 19:58:44 GMT
MOSCOW—Russia said it would urge the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to reconsider a newly disclosed plan to defend three Baltic member nations against military attack, saying the alliance is no longer justified in viewing Russia as a would-be aggressor.
Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's envoy to NATO, told Russian news agencies Tuesday that he would raise the issue during Wednesday's meeting in Brussels of the NATO-Russia Council, a panel set up in 2002 to improve ties between the former Cold War rivals. He said that despite official denials by NATO, the plan was clearly aimed at his country.
The NATO plan, code-named Eagle Guardian, was spelled out in confidential U.S. cables released this week by WikiLeaks. It said the alliance decided quietly in January to expand a defense plan for Poland to cover NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which border Russia.
According to one cable on the WikiLeaks web site, the U.S. State Department told its embassies in January to keep the NATO plan secret because "a public discussion of contingency planning would also likely lead to an unnecessary increase in NATO-Russian tensions."
Mr. Rogozin noted that since January, NATO's relationship with Russia had improved. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev attended the alliance's summit last month in Lisbon, Portugal. At the summit, NATO issued an official doctrine emphasizing the goal of NATO-Russia cooperation in "a common space of peace, stability and security."
"I think our partners have the chance to reconsider the previous decisions, which were publicized in such a specific form, and can not but cause a serious public reaction in my country," Mr. Rogozin told the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
He said he would ask NATO to change the defense plan in light of subsequent declarations that "NATO does not see Russia as its enemy, but on the contrary is seeking to create partnership relations."
NATO's obligation is to defend all its member states. But it was only after Russia defeated Georgia in a brief 2008 war that the Baltic nations, which had joined the alliance four years earlier, began asking for detailed plans for their defense.
According to the leaked cables, NATO designated a number of military units that would come to the Baltic nations' defense in case of attack and identified ports in Poland and Germany those forces would use.
Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's envoy to NATO, told Russian news agencies Tuesday that he would raise the issue during Wednesday's meeting in Brussels of the NATO-Russia Council, a panel set up in 2002 to improve ties between the former Cold War rivals. He said that despite official denials by NATO, the plan was clearly aimed at his country.
The NATO plan, code-named Eagle Guardian, was spelled out in confidential U.S. cables released this week by WikiLeaks. It said the alliance decided quietly in January to expand a defense plan for Poland to cover NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which border Russia.
According to one cable on the WikiLeaks web site, the U.S. State Department told its embassies in January to keep the NATO plan secret because "a public discussion of contingency planning would also likely lead to an unnecessary increase in NATO-Russian tensions."
Mr. Rogozin noted that since January, NATO's relationship with Russia had improved. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev attended the alliance's summit last month in Lisbon, Portugal. At the summit, NATO issued an official doctrine emphasizing the goal of NATO-Russia cooperation in "a common space of peace, stability and security."
"I think our partners have the chance to reconsider the previous decisions, which were publicized in such a specific form, and can not but cause a serious public reaction in my country," Mr. Rogozin told the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
He said he would ask NATO to change the defense plan in light of subsequent declarations that "NATO does not see Russia as its enemy, but on the contrary is seeking to create partnership relations."
NATO's obligation is to defend all its member states. But it was only after Russia defeated Georgia in a brief 2008 war that the Baltic nations, which had joined the alliance four years earlier, began asking for detailed plans for their defense.
According to the leaked cables, NATO designated a number of military units that would come to the Baltic nations' defense in case of attack and identified ports in Poland and Germany those forces would use.