News conference by the Secretary General

Informal meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at the level of Foreign Ministers

JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER (Secretary General of NATO): Hello again, good evening.

Again, a bit late, but the reason was that I think I can say that the NATO-Russia Council certainly lived up to its potential the past two hours as a forum for open and frank dialogue. So that's a big plus.

Let me start by saying that all NRC Ministers welcomed the NATO-Russia cooperation until now on Afghanistan, which might be increased in the future, on the Operation Active Endeavour, on theatre missile defence, on air pictures, and on all the elements which have been part of a steadily progressing NATO-Russia relationship over the past years.

We look forward to the anniversaries. I mentioned them to you, the ten years NATO Founding Act and the five years NATO-Russia Council, which we'll celebrate in Russia with a seminar in St. Petersburg and a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Moscow.

But if I say that the NRC lived up to its potential that was not specifically on issues and items where we could see agreement, because there were two, as you might expect, which were discussed over the past two hours and that was, first of all, the whole discussion surrounding missile defence, and secondly the consequences of President Putin's speech of this morning concerning the Russian position on the Adapted CFE Treaty.

On missile defence, we do not look eye-to-eye in the sense that, as we already found out in the expert meeting on the 19th of April, there is not unanimity, there's not one opinion on the question, is this directed against Russia? It is not, the allies clearly stated. Russia has another position there, as it has on the perception of the threat.

You remember that we discussed already the very forward-leaning open offer which was made by our American friends and allies to the Russians. And there was a strong wish from the side of the allies that that would lead to a serious discussion and that our Russian friends would be able, not to accept that offer from A till Z, but at least open a discussion on it.

That was, of course, not only the wish of Secretary Rice, but I think a wish shared by all allies, and the NRC, the NATO-Russia Council was mentioned, as far as the NATO-Russia relationships is concerned, as the forum where this should be discussed.

That's a plus, by the way, because this meeting had a lot of substance. We did not agree on the substance, but it had a lot of substance, and that's what the NRC is for.

And I summed up the meeting, although it was an informal one, with the words, to be continued, to be continued. Although I do not expect that on the issues we will agree. Because the second issue was on CFE where Sergey Lavrov confirmed President Putin's statement made this morning, that Russia is suspending—he used the word moratorium—its adherence to the Adapted CFE Treaty.

I can tell you that that message was met by concern, grave concern, disappointment and regret, because the allies are of the opinion that the CFE Treaty is one of the cornerstones of European security, as it has grown from the CFE Treaty into the Adapted CFE Treaty and you know that despite the fact that the Adapted CFE Treaty could not yet been ratified, all the allies have always, to the letter and to the spirit, adhered to what is in the Adapted CFE Treaty. It has never been violated.

In other words, there is this discussion we know very well on the Istanbul Commitments. The allies are of the opinion that the Istanbul Commitment should be fulfilled and in full, before there can be any ratification of the Adapted CFE Treaty. There were Ministers who said if the Russians fulfil their Istanbul Commitments it will be a matter of days rather than weeks before the Adapted CFE Treaty can be ratified.

But we find ourselves confronted, unfortunately, and again, that leads to... not only to regret, but to concern, and strongly disappointment, that there is now a de facto a moratorium from the Russian side on the CFE Treaty.

On the other hand, I should say, that this concern, this disappointment, these worries, have not led to the conclusion, and will not lead to the conclusion that we will not continue this discussion in the NATO-Russia Council.

So also on CFE we continue our discussions in the hope that a meeting of minds is possible and the same, let me stress it once again, is relevant for the subject, missile defence. Not a meeting of minds, but we'll go on.

And we have, I think, a way forward to discuss these two issues.

So this is what I have to tell you. An excellent opportunity to share views, although the views are divergent. And the NATO allies and the Russians do not agree on CFE. Discussion to be continued. Discussion on missile defence at the expert level, at the ambassadorial level, at the political level, to be continued, that is what the NATO-Russia Council is for.