Allies expected to resume ties with Russians

[March 05, 2009]  BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Seven months after breaking ties with Russia over its invasion of Georgia, the NATO alliance moved Thursday toward resuming formal relations despite lingering concerns about Moscow's approach to reasserting its regional influence.

NATO foreign ministers opened a one-day meeting Thursday and appeared likely to decide the time is right to warm up to Russia. Such a move could boost President Barack Obama's efforts to build a stronger bond with the Russians after years of tensions during the Bush administration.

For U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who arrived here Wednesday night, the NATO meeting is her first. She is at the midpoint of a weeklong trip that began in Egypt and took her to Israel on Tuesday and the West Bank on Wednesday.

After the NATO session she is due to travel to Geneva on Friday to meet with her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and afterward she is to visit Ankara, Turkey.

Clinton said the time had come "to explore a fresh start" with Moscow.

"We can and must find ways to work constructively with Russia where we share areas of common interest, including helping the people of Afghanistan, arms control and nonproliferation, counter-piracy and counter-narcotics and addressing the threats posed by Iran and North Korea," she said in prepared remarks.

NATO must find ways to manage its differences with Russia, she said, adding that the NATO-Russia Council -- a joint forum established several years ago -- should be resumed as a mechanism for dialogue with Moscow.

But the alliance should also continue to keep the door open for membership by Ukraine and Georgia despite Moscow's opposition, Clinton said.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Clinton's presence was widely welcomed.

"We can assume there will be a new breeze going through NATO and a new mood of cooperation," he said. "We will need that because the challenges are not getting any easier."

In his opening speech, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said it was time to discuss "possible next steps" in NATO's reengagement with Russia, including the revival of the NATO-Russia Council.

"While not shying away from the serious differences of opinion that remain between NATO and Russia, in particular about Georgia, we also acknowledge that we have obvious common interests with Russia: Afghanistan is one, but counterterrorism and the fight against WMD proliferation are others," de Hoop Scheffer said.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters upon arrival at NATO headquarters that he would argue in favor of restoring relations with Moscow.

"I think it's important to re-establish the NATO-Russia Council," he said. "In many areas, such as Afghanistan, it is important that Russia and NATO work together." Asked whether that means it will once again be business as usual with Moscow, Miliband replied, "Business was changed fundamentally since the Georgia crisis."

However, some NATO member states said they were opposed to a normalization of ties with Moscow. Lithuanian foreign minister Vygaudas Usackas said it was "a bit premature" to reward Russia.

The five-day war between Russia and Georgia erupted when Georgian troops launched an attack to regain control over South Ossetia, which has run its own affairs with Russian support since the early 1990s. Russian forces intervened, driving Georgian troops out of South Ossetia and surrounding areas.

U.S. missile defenses are another source of tension with Moscow. The Russians are particularly angry about a Bush administration plan -- now under review by the Obama administration -- to install missile interceptors in Poland and a missile-tracking radar in the Czech Republic.

On Wednesday Clinton said the Russians should understand that the missile shield is not aimed at them.

"I think they are beginning to really believe it -- that this is not about Russia," she said.

Clinton also is expected to update the ministers on the Obama administration's review of its Afghan war strategy. The United States has more than 30,000 troops in Afghanistan and the alliance has a similar number. Washington has pushed the Europeans for many months to increase their commitments in Afghanistan -- military and civilian -- but a troop shortage persists, according to U.S. commanders.

Obama has approved plans to send an additional 17,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan in coming months.

[Associated Press; By ROBERT BURNS]

Associated Press writers Robert Wielaard and Slobodan Lekic contributed to this report.

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