The mysterious fate of the NATO-Russia Council: a memory of when Moscow was not an enemy

However, this has not always been the case in recent history. In fact, it has been several years since NATO and Russia supposedly worked together to create an atmosphere of trust. “The period of greatest optimism was the presidency of Dmitri Medvedev. [2008-2012]”, explains EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, a newspaper belonging to the same group as this media, Nick Whitney, senior analyst at ECFR London. He seemed more open to the Alliance’s proposals than Vladimir Putin and started talking about a new security structure for Europe.”

The Alliance itself has a mysterious body called NATO-Russia Council, It was created in the context of a certain proximity to Moscow after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 2002 and the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. Military representatives of the Alliance and envoys from Moscow talked about almost everything at the Council. There was a working group on “cooperative airspace control” and “missile defense”. Also, a “preparatory committee for the creation of the organization” funding for the training and maintenance of helicopters”. Terrorist threats in the Euro-Atlantic region were discussed. Of course, there was talk of nuclear disarmament. At the height of the Cold War, there were approximately 60,000 nuclear warheads between the United States and the Soviet Union. At the beginning of this century, and after the agreements between Washington and Moscow, that number dropped to about 5,000. Now all this common stuff seems like an anachronism.

“The NATO-Russia Council still exists as a format,” he says. alliance official a EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA is a newspaper belonging to the same group as this media. “Last met on January 12, 2022.” The organization refused to respond to this newspaper if there were personnel still working in this organization or if official or informal contacts with Moscow could be made through it. They simply add: “We continue to call on Russia to end its brutal occupation of Ukraine.”

Russia was not a threat

For the rest, the official cites the website of the NATO-Russia Council. In fact, he points to a subsection on the general NATO page dedicated to debunking the deceptions currently being spread by the Kremlin. However, there is another already neglected website devoted solely to the relationship between the military alliance and Russia. navigate travel to the recent past A situation where the Russian Federation does not appear to be the present military threat. Videos and photos disappeared. Yes, there is a note regarding the founding purpose. There is hardly a day that the NATO-Russia Council does not meet at one level or another, which puts us at an unprecedented level of informal contacts and consultations. “All in a friendly and working environment.”

“The NATO-Russia Council has not been reconsidered,” another organization official told this newspaper at the NATO summit in Madrid. In the big event that took place in the capital last Wednesday and Thursday, the total break with Moscow was reflected in black on white.

“The Russian Federation is the most direct and most important threat to security, peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region,” says the Madrid Strategic Concept, which sets the position of 30 allied countries for the next ten years. seek a setr “domains” and direct control of countries using “coercion, subversion, aggression and annexation”. And this is using traditional, cybernetic and hybrid methods. All while affirming the 30 allied nations, “modernizing their nuclear forces and expanding their innovative and destructive dual systems. [capaces de transportar armas nucleares o convencionales] and sending menacing signals about the use of nuclear weapons.”

When Medvedev was invited to the summits

The history of Russia (and other countries that later formed part of the Soviet Union) was one of the harshest and most brutal of the 20th century. Revolutions, massacres, an iron dictatorship, terrible famines or attempts at German occupation have killed tens of millions of civilians.

With the entry of XXI and the coming to power of Vladimir Putin, there was some hope in the west. Despite being an authoritarian leader, he surrounded himself with reformists in his early years. He served as president for eight years, between 2000 and 2008. He temporarily became prime minister when the legal maximum was met. Four years when the presidency passed to Dmitri Medvedev, for most analysts, Putin was still in office. After returning to the presidency in 2012, something had changed, as American “Putinologist” Steven Lee Myers explained to this newspaper. It was more authoritarian, conservative, and nationalistic.

On May 27, 1997, the Founding Act of Mutual Cooperation and Security Relations was signed between NATO and the Russian Federation. For several years there were exchanges, cooperation and disarmament.. There were better and worse moments. It’s the lowest since Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, which, according to Moscow, was provoked by NATO and, according to Washington, marked the beginning of Russia’s path to international isolation. But there was talk.

In 2010, after meeting with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel, Medvedev agreed to attend the organization’s summit in Lisbon. And not just as a guest. It was to be the anti-missile shield that the Alliance would deploy in Europe. Moscow was invited to participate in it., and he was going into details. “We are analyzing the idea, but NATO itself must first agree on how it wants Russia to join, what it will contribute, how an agreement can be reached and how it will move forward,” the then-president said. Today, 12 years later, Medvedev is threatening a third world war if NATO decides to attack Crimea.

“There is a thirty-year history of NATO trying to find institutional ways to help Russia confront its loss of empire because the West still perceives it as a great power; but Russia was never involved,” says Nick Witney. It was the most optimistic period with Medvedev, but still “NATO was not entirely reliable”. The analyst did not elaborate on the then-Russian president’s plans and says he fears the organization’s strategic idea will focus on its so-called “areas of influence.” This concept was shaped by the Russian invasion of Ukraine: an area previously controlled from Moscow should, from the Russians’ point of view, remain under its sphere of influence. “Well the idea is stuck in borage juiceand then Putin returned to the presidency…” he concludes.

NATO in its Strategic Concept launched in Madrid leaves a door ajar, at least with words. “We cannot see the Russian Federation as our partner. However, we continue to keep channels of communication open with Moscow to reduce risks, avoid tensions and increase transparency.” “Any change in our relations depends on the Russian Federation stopping its aggressive behavior and respecting international law.”