Press Conference

Lord Robertson: We have just had a discussion in the NATO-Russia Council, where Minister Sergei Ivanov, the Defence Minister of the Russian Federation has participated, in a dialogue about a number of issues, including the Balkans, Afghanistan, and the role of the NATO-Russia Council in preventing and dealing with future conflicts.

It is quite clear that the practical program of the NATO-Russia Council will have a lot to do with the Russian Ministry of Defence, especially in the areas of military to military co-operation and in the field of defence reform. We’ve got a substantial area for discussion and co-operation and, indeed, for joint decisions. And we look forward, very much to developing that work and developing upon the existing programs that are there just now.

We are very grateful, in the council, for the personal involvement of Minister Sergei Ivanov. The job of Defence Minister in Russia is no easier than it is in any of the NATO countries and we live in difficult times for those who have to organize the military in order to deal with the threats and the challenges caused by the current security situation and as a former Defence Minister myself, I know how necessary it is to draw on the experiences of others in order to reshape forces so that they become more cost-effective, they become more useful and they remain the sharp edge of our means of tackling the threats that face our countries today. So I’m very grateful for Minister Sergei Ivanov’s personal involvement in the work of the Council and he, of course, was one of those who was a strong enthusiast of the idea of the 20 working together, rather than the 19 plus one struggling with co-operation.

Sergei Ivanov (Russian Defence Minister) - (Translated from Russian on site): (inaudible)... discussion as we have previously noted, we have reviewed all of these basic aspects of military to military co-operation at 20, including such problems as fighting terrorism, the real threat of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the means of its delivery. We also discussed the issues of co-operation as regards theatre missile defence creation. And it is within the common interest of NATO countries and Russia. We also exchanged the experiences in the military reform area. I told the ambassadors... I commented on the main fields of our military reform and our initial assessment of the four year experience of our co-operation in the Balkans. Positively... We assessed it positively, including the tactical level of co-operation experience, both in Kosovo, in the Balkans and Bosnia, and Herzegovina.

Once again, in detail, I have explained in detail to my NATO colleagues, the reasons, numerous reasons why Russia decided to withdraw military - I stress the military component of Russia’s contingent, because police forces of Russia will remain in the region and maybe will be increased in the future. As regards hot spots, we have discussed the situation in Afghanistan in detail and it’s quite understandable, because the situation in this country is far from being ideal and there is a negative trend when situations are getting aggravated and now, there is a decision adopted that in the future, NATO will bear the main burden of implementing the peace-making... peace-keeping functions in this country.

Mister Roberston also made me a compliment, calling me one of the enthusiasts of our co-operation of 20. I am grateful to him for that, but I would like to say nonetheless that the locomotive of this process, of course, is the Secretary General of NATO.

As regard to my assessment of this year of work at 20, I can say that we have already reached the practical, tangible result and there is less and less theory and more and more practice in the co-operation at 20. In these conjunctions, I would like, once again, to express my gratitude to the Secretary General of NATO for his personal involvement into this work, into this activity and, in my opinion, for the time being, there are no big problems as regards co-operation at 20 and if there are problems, remember, the (inaudible)... of Lord Robertson, Russia has no relation to such problems, as he said.

Questions and answers

Q: ...would like to ask mister Ivanov: Pyongyang decided, not long ago, to unilaterally withdraw from the nuclear-free status agreement of the Korean Peninsula. What’s your assessment of this step by the Korean administration? What are the prospective for the development of the situation in this peninsula and is there a risk of evolving this situation into a large scale military conflict?

Mr. Ivanov: Well, as regard my assessment, I can say I regret this. My assessment is quite short. On the other hand, I believe that the problem of settlement in the Korean peninsula should be in a political and... diplomatic way... There should be a political diplomatic settlement and the format is not important here. Either it is a bilateral format, U.S. or North Korea, or a multi-lateral format with the involvement of the countries bordering... countries, or countries adjacent to the zone of potential conflict, of course purely potential conflict.

I mean, first of all, such countries as South Korea, Japan, China and the Russian Federation. Also, previously, we’re in favour of a nuclear-free status of the Korean Peninsula and we have been in favour of the retuning of North Korea into all the international regimes(?) include nuclear non-proliferation treaty and, of course, the sovereignty of this country should be respected and the legitimate security interests should be mapped.

Q: B.B.C. Russian Service. Question to Minister Ivanov. What’s your impression of the integration of Baltic States into NATO? Have these former Soviet Republics... In the light of the CFE Treaty problems... What’s your vision of these countries in NATO? Will they constitute a problem, or a tension for Russia, as NATO countries?

Mr. Ivanov: From the very beginning we’re saying that we would not like the NATO extension, expansion to create additional threats to Russia and that’s quite natural. I think NATO leadership shares these approaches and they understand that it’s impossible to increase security of one state at the expense of another state, or there can be no success in assuring security of one state, if the security of another state is infringed.

We were pleased with the statement by the Baltic states when they said that they will be committed to join the adapted CFE Treaty after it has entered into the force. Today, during out meeting with Ambassadors, we discussed this issue and the majority of the NATO States, including Russia, are in favour of earlier ratification of the adapted CFE Treaty.