News Conference (Q&A) by the Secretary General

Informal meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Foreign Ministerial Session

JAMES APPATHURAI (NATO Spokesman): Questions? Start here. Bloomberg.

Q: Jim Neuger from Bloomberg. On that very issue, the question of the strategic balance, Mr. Putin today threatened to pull out of the CFE Treaty. How does this change your perception of Russian intentions, and more specifically, do you regard this as an attempt by Mr. Putin to create divisions in the Alliance over issues like missile defence?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Well, there will be no division in the Alliance, but coming back to the first part of your question... As we speak, and I must admit, and I've read all the wire stories coming out in the quarter of the day, that I do not exactly have a grasp of what President Putin exactly meant, but we have the ideal opportunity in a few moments, in a few minutes, where I'll have a brief bilateral meeting with Sergey Lavrov, and then Sergey will come in the NATO-Russia Council.

So I'm quite sure that either he will talk about what his President commented on CFE and I think CFE might well be an issue in that meeting.

You know the allied position on CFE. Let me stress once again. The allies attach great importance to ratification of the adapted CFE Treaty, but we have things like the Istanbul Commitments which have to be fulfilled, because as you know, all relevant nations have to agree on the ratification.

So at the moment they're also here. We  had already a point of contention in the NATO-Russia relationship. I say again, that is not a problem because we have discussed CFE and we will discuss CFE. What was exactly meant by President Putin this morning I hope to be able... and otherwise you can ask always my colleague Sergey Lavrov what was actually meant by President Putin's comments. But I can get back to that later.

Q:  Just to follow-up on that...

APPATHURAI: Could you identify...

Q: Yes, hello, Nieles Jonson(?) from Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen. To follow-up on this question: If Russia does pull out of the CFE, how serious is that? And Putin connected directly with the missile shield. What's your assessment on that?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Your question starts with an if. I usually do not answer, and I'll make no exception today, of not answering iffy questions.

As we speak, as far as I can see, there is no retreat from the CFE Treaty. I know that words like moratoria have been used, but let us first find out what was exactly meant. And the ideal situation I that we have Sergey Lavrov in our midst the minutes from now. So again, I might be able to say a bit more, I hope, after the meeting of the NATO-Russia Council. But the allied position on CFE, let me stress that once again, is a very clear one. And the allies are fully and completely united. We are in favour of ratification, but we have the Istanbul Commitments, and we do know, and I think our Russian partners do know what the Istanbul Commitments are. And before there(?) it will be fulfilled I'm afraid there will be no ratification of the adapted CFE Treaty. In the back.

Q: Hi I'm (inaudible)... Bucharest, Romania. I want to ask you if you know that next year will NATO summit take place in Bucharest, Romania? Do you have a decision on this matter?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: I know that there will be a summit meeting in the spring of 2008. And I do definitely not exclude that that meeting will take place in Bucharest.

Q: (inaudible)... from Balkans Press Agency (inaudible). Secretary General, are you concerned that the latest quarrel, or today's quarrel on the missile defence, might represent additional burden to the already-complicated discussions of the Security Council on Kosovo? How will this reflect on the issue?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: I think quite honestly that we should treat these subjects in their own right. There is a discussion in NATO on missile defence, along the lines I've just been explaining to you.

There is, and let's be glad we have the NATO-Russia Council. There is a very open and transparent way, an important discussion with our Russian partners in the NATO-Russia council on missile defence. We do not yet see eye-to-eye, but I do not exclude, and I hope that at a certain stage we would see eye-to-eye.

And let me say again that on the bilateral trek between the United States and Russia I think a very generous offer in the framework of openness and transparency has been made by the Americans to the Russians, and I would sincerely hope that that will lead to constructive engagement by the Russian Federation in the whole missile defence debate.

But we have the NATO-Russia Council, so I'm not going to speak and use words like quarrels. I say again, we do not see eye-to-eye, the allies do not think this upsets the strategic balance, but like partners and friends we'll continue the discussion.

APPATHURAI: I'm afraid that's all we have time for.

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Okay, see you later.