News Conference (Q&A)

by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk
following the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council in Foreign Ministerial Session

James Appathurai (NATO Spokesman) : Time for questions. I'm sorry, we don't have Ukrainian translation. My apologies, so I might ask journalists to speak in English. Please.

Q: (inaudible)... Of Ukraine. Secretary General you mentioned, it is right time to define where we stay now in bilateral cooperation with European. Could you elaborate a little bit about that and don't you consider that we step a little bit back in the tempo of our cooperation during the last year?

And the question to Mr. Yatsenyuk, if possible. Minister, what is the Ukrainian stance on the treaty of conventional armed forces in Europe? Is topical issue. And what is the practical ways of preparation between Ukraine and NATO in that field? Thank you. 

JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER (NATO Secretary General): Let me start by saying that I would certainly not use terminology as you did about a step back. We have seen reforms going on in Ukraine. We have seen, and the Minister has mentioned it, I have mentioned it, continued very active participation of Ukraine in the different crisis response operations. We have seen the development of the annual target plan. We hope, of course, that the annual target plan can be adopted, endorsed, as soon as possible, because that is the basis for our cooperation.

So I would qualify the relationship as good, as progressing, and that is exactly the reason that the time really had come to have this other political level in NATO-Ukraine Commission to exchange views, for Minister Yatsenyuk to hear what the Allies have, what do they expect. And for us, as the Allies, to be informed, by the Minister, how they, how the Ukrainian government, plans to bring this matter forward, but I would quality the NATO-Ukraine relationship as good and fruitful.

ARSENIY YATSENYUK (Ukrainian Foreign Minister): As far I understand you asked. about European arms treaty?

Q: Yeah.

YATSENYUK: Okay. First, we do not support, or even more, we oppose any kind of friction or tension between NATO and non-NATO countries. And any suggested suspension of European arms treaty won't contribute security in the world.

Q: (inaudible)... Agency Interfax  (inaudible)... A question for both representatives. If Ukraine will have new election do you see any way to protect NATO issues against political speculation during the Parliament campaign, how it was in the past? Thank you.

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: This question was addressed to both, but it cannot be addressed to me for the reason that I'll refrain, of course, from any comments on what I consider, and the Allies consider internal Ukrainian political debate. So, please, Minister.

YATSENYUK: And I am grateful to you, Secretary General. It's more an issue of Ukraine rather an issue of any kind of member states of NATO. So first, it seems to me that NATO issue is misused by different political forces. We would call for non-interaction or non-involvement of NATO into any kind of Ukrainian domestic political quarrels. That's not in the interest, neither NATO nor Ukraine.

APPATHURAI: Next question.

Q: Nieles Jonson(?), Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen.  I'd like to return, Secretary General, briefly to yesterday's big topic. How do you assess the relationship going forward now with the NATO-Russia Council considering what happened yesterday with Putin's threats?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Well, as I have already said yesterday, I think, the NATO-Russia Council is the place where we discuss things if we agree or are close to agreement, but we also discuss things and subjects on which we do not agree.

And yesterday we saw a very interesting NATO-Russia Council meeting, because meetings where you do not agree are usually, I can tell you from a long experience, are usually more interesting than meetings where everybody agrees on everything.

Having said that, I reiterate the Allies' concern about what we heard about the CFE Treaty. In the meantime I've seen comments that there is no immediate suspension, but that it might... it might come later. I say again here, the NATO-Russia Council is the... is the forum and that's what it's for, to discuss these things. But again, NATO, the NATO Allies in Russia do not look eye-to-eye on missile defence, and I think... I say again, that the Allies, and I personally, attach such great value to the Adapted CFE Treaty that... and we've always stuck to the rules despite the fact that it has not been ratified, that any intention or move, I do not know, any intention by our Russian friends and partners to leave that treaty, worries me.

Q: (inaudible)..., Ukraine newspaper Den; Day in English. My question to General Secretary. General Secretary, last September Yanukovych, our Ukraine Prime Minister here in Brussels... no, in Brussels, promised to make better image of NATO in Ukraine. Do you see that he is... Ukrainian government and President or the Prime Minister improve the image of NATO in Ukraine? The time (inaudible)...

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Well, let me say again what I said in my introductory remarks. When I hear Minister Yatsenyuk say that there is now funding for a public information campaign that is good news. And that is exactly what is happening, that is exactly what is going to happy... to happen. So in that respect I'm happy. That was the word happy I want to use.

YATSENYUK: If I may just to add, a special governmental decision have been enacted yesterday... or no, a day before yesterday, on the information campaign. And there is a certain allocation of financial resources. So... we are moving.

Q: Mr. Secretary General, Jean-François Lépine, CBC Canadian Television. Are you concerned yourself and are NATO Foreign Ministers concerned about this question of Afghan prisoners in Afghanistan, prisoners who are transferred from.... by NATO forces there to the Afghan authorities? Are you concerned by their conditions, knowing all the stories which have come out from Afghanistan?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Well, as I said, Minister MacKay raised this and I think he was right in raising it. Why? Because we are in Afghanistan, Canada is and 36 other NATO Allies and partners are there, to uphold and defend what I call universal values. And part of that universal values is an adequate treatment of detainees and of prisoners.

Now, the case we are discussing, let me make that clear as well, is still based on allegations. Not yet facts. I'm happy with what I saw on the basis of these universal values, that the Afghan government is ready to launch an inquiry into these allegations and that is my answer.

You should also realize that the ICRC, the International Red Cross, plays a role and you also know that like Canada, many other NATO Allies have their bilateral Memorandums of Understanding with the Afghan government on the transfer of detainees.

So I think it was good and fair that Minister MacKay raised it, and as I said, let me stress it again, it has a resonance, if that's correct English, with the Ministers. And it is a subject, universal values, more in general, I can tell you I always raise in my many conversations with the Afghan authorities and President Karzai.

We are there, NATO is an Alliance based on universal values. Those values are dear to us and those values include the proper treatment of detainees.

APPATHURAI: Paul was next, I think.

Q: Secretary General, to follow up that case, given those values, do you think it would be a sensible idea, perhaps, to suspend the transfer the transfer of prisoners to the Afghan authorities pending the results of the government inquiry... the inquiry by the Afghan government? 

And on Kosovo, given the... what seems to be increasing intransigence by the Russians on Kosovo, is it not prudent now for NATO to draw up plans for a possible... how to deal with a unilateral declaration of independence by the Kosovar Albanians?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Let's take the last one first. We do not need NATO... NATO KFOR doesn't need any special preparation because NATO KFOR is prepared for all eventualities. So I'm not going to discuss these kind of scenarios. NATO KFOR is there.

I told you yesterday that upon their invitation I spoke to the Security Council in Brussels the day before yesterday. I do not know about the outcome. That is up to the Security Council. But I said very clearly that the position of the Allies is, of course, very strongly in favour of a speedy Security Council resolution, which will give, by the way, then NATO KFOR or the international military presence in the Ahtisaari proposals, the legal basis to continue their presence which is now on the basis of 1244.

I think that delay would not help, a delay would not be very productive and that the Allies very strongly favour a controlled process.

On the first part of your question, that is not a NATO decision as such, but I do not think personally there is a reason to suspend the transfer of detainees on the basis of the allegations we have seen.

Of course, I stress again, these are still allegations, but I'm glad with the Afghan reaction as I have seen it up till now.

APPATHURAI: A question here in...

Q: Anna-Marie (inaudible) from news in Romania. Which were the arguments that convinced the Allies to organize the next summit in Bucharest? Thank you.

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Well, the Romanian government was so kind to offer Bucharest and organize the next summit and what we then do under my presidency, we discussed that and I can report to you the happy outcome of that discussion, that the Allies are very happy and glad to accept the Romanian offer to have the summit in Bucharest next spring. So that's the good news.

Q: Follow-up on Kosovo. Yourself are confirming that delay is possible and having in mind the respect that NATO has among Kosovar citizens, what kind of means can you use to prevent any unilateral decision as a declaration of independence in the Kosovar Parliament?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: First of all, correction. I did not say, neither did I indicate, that NATO reckons with delay. That is not the case. It's not in our hands. It's in the hands of the Security Council. I gave you the ambition of the Allies, that it is important that we do not face unnecessary delay.

On the second part of your question, NATO KFOR is there to protect majority and minority alike. KFOR knows what it has to do. Everybody should realize that violence can never be the answer to anything, to any question, that UNMIK police or NATO KFOR, for that matter, will not tolerate violence because that can never be the solution. But the bottom line is that this process is in the Security Council now. It's not in NATO's hands.

NATO KFOR plays an important role in the province, and my two recent visits to Kosovo have proven to me that indeed, as you say, there is confidence and trust in NATO KFOR and NATO KFOR will do everything it can to keep that trust.

APPATHURAI: We only have time for one more question and it was right here.

Q: Thank you. (inaudible) from Republica from Italy. Secretary General, following the meeting yesterday with the Russian Minister, did you feel among the NATO countries any new disponibility to ratify the CFE Treaty first and any possibility to modify the installation of the antimissile system following the objection by the Russians?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: On your first question, there has always been the ambition of the NATO Allies to ratify the Adapted CFE Treaty. But, and you know what's going to come, on the basis of the fulfilment, the complete fulfilment of the so-called Istanbul Commitments. So in that respect there is no change and there will be no change in the positions the Allies have vis-à-vis the ratification of the Adapted CFE Treaty.

It was a bit of a cold shower to hear President Putin and Minister Sergey Lavrov say that there is, or there might be... again, it's not entirely clear to me, there is or there might be a suspension.

The Allies will stick, as they have done up till now... the Allies will stick to the provisions of the treaty. And the Allies will stick to their position that they are ambitious in ratifying the Adapted CFE Treaty, but since everybody knows that that needs the consent of all relevant states it is not going to happen unless the Istanbul Commitments are fulfilled.

As far as missile defence is concerned, it was agreed that the discussions in the framework of the NATO-Russia Council will continue, as the discussions in NATO will continue, so that is the answer to the first part of your question.

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

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Okay? Thank you very much.