Interfax's Interview

NATO member states are still not ready to change their position and continue to link the issue to what they call Russia's 'Istanbul obligations,' which the West interprets as the necessity to withdraw Russian military bases and hardware from Georgia and Transdniestria, Grushko. Meanwhile, "Russia has fulfilled the 'Istanbul obligations' a long time ago," the deputy foreign minister claimed.

"Russia has said clearly that it will no longer tolerate this at the third revision conference on the CFE Treaty," the high-ranking diplomat said. "We will weigh the situation surrounding the treaty once again and inform our partners on the results," Grushko said, expressing hope that "NATO will seriously heed the signal."

"We proceed from the fact that all efforts should be made to bring the adapted CFE Treaty into force," the diplomat said. "Russia has shown its commitment to the regime of arms control, having ratified the agreement on the adaptation of the CFE Treaty last year," he said.

When asked whether Russia would withdraw from the treaty if no agreement were reached with NATO, Grushko said, "As far as the current CFE Treaty, which has lost any connection with reality, is concerned, it provides for a withdrawal if a situation that threatens the vital security interests of the signatories emerges."

The treaty envisages convening an extraordinary conference that "also allows raising the issue of either withdrawal or introducing crucial changes," he said. "At last there are international legal norms that define the order of actions if the treaty does not come into force," he said.

Speaking about a project to create a NATO anti missile defense system, Grushko said that this will create a qualitatively new military and political situation for Russia.

Moscow is going raise the issue of transparency and the aim of NATO's plans to build an anti-missile defense system, he said.

"Preliminary analyses show that the implementation of NATO's anti-missile defense project, which will be an integral part of the global U.S. anti-missile defense system, may create a qualitatively new military and political situation for Russia," the diplomat said.

"In these conditions, we will ask our partners about the aim of their plans, about transparency and about inflicting no damage if they are fulfilled," the high-ranking diplomat said.

"It is important to clarify just how internal work on the project will line up with the NATO-Russian project in the area," he said, adding that cooperation on the compatibility of anti-missile defense systems in a NATO-Russia theater of military operations, which is currently "at a rather advanced stage," is developing within the framework of the Russia-NATO Council.

"All these issues are topics for dialogue both in the Russia-NATO Council and in the bilateral format," Grushko said.

The deputy foreign minister stressed, however, that a political decision on the creation of NATO's anti-missile defense system had yet to be made. There are U.S. plans to create a group of intercepting missiles and to deploy radiolocation systems, including in Europe, the so-called "global anti-missile defense system," with "the third missile deployment area" in Eastern Europe being a part of it, the diplomat said.

"These are all mere projects, whose implementation will require a lot of funds and time," he said.

"We are closely following the discussion between the U.S. and NATO and take note of statements that these plans are not directed against Russia," Grushko said.

Speaking about possible Georgia’s accession to NATO, the diplomat said that this may have a negative impact in the situation in the region.

Georgia's membership in NATO will seriously affect Russia's interests and have a negative impact on the situation in the problem-ridden regions, Grushko said.

The Russian authorities have always been negative about NATO's eastward expansion plans, he said.

"Any enlargement of military-political unions entails considerable changes in the sphere of security," Grushko said.

"The admission of Russia's nearest neighbors to the alliance will seriously affect our political, military and economic interests and have a negative effect on the fragile situation in the problem-ridden districts," the high-ranking diplomat said.

"The experience of previous enlargements shows that countries that enter the alliance try to resolve their problems by various methods, including by placing them within the context of Russia-NATO relations," he said.

"In Georgia's case, all these fears, unfortunately, have received additional confirmation. Steps being taken by NATO to accommodate Tbilisi's needs have been interpreted by the Georgian authorities as an incentive to pursue a confrontational policy toward Russia," the diplomat said.

The Georgian authorities took provocative anti-Russian measures as soon as NATO launched its Intensive Dialogue with Georgia in New York in September, he said. "It is difficult not to notice that these events are related," he added.

"Instead of making any gestures of encouragement toward Tbilisi, the international community should give its uncompromising assessment of the Georgian leadership's intention to settle the Georgian-Abkhaz and the Georgian-South Ossetian conflicts using force," Grushko said.

Speaking about upcoming negotiations with de Hoop Scheffer, the deputy foreign minister said it was not the NATO secretary general's first visit to Moscow. "Plenty of practical steps have been taken to promote the Russia-NATO partnership in areas of mutual interest since the last meeting on June 24, 2005," he said.

However, "there are problems in our relations with NATO, on which we are having a sincere dialogue within the Russia-NATO Council," he said.

"I am speaking about plans to transform and reform the alliance, steps to bring NATO's military infrastructure close to our borders and other aspects that worry us. All these topics will be high on the agenda of the upcoming talks," the high-ranking diplomat said.

More Interfax’s interviews...