Press briefing

by NATO Spokesman James Appathurai

JAMES APPATHURAI (NATO Spokesman): Thank you for coming. I know there's lots of stuff going on all around town and probably you're all looking forward to your vacations, but let me update you on a few things because there are a few things.

First just to give you a snapshot of the trip to Russia that the North Atlantic Council took. You have seen the press reports so I don't want to go into it in too much detail. I will focus on the meeting with President Putin the Secretary General had. It was one hour and 50 minutes. A very long meeting focused on four issues.

One was, and this is what President Putin began with, what is actually quite a good state of NATO-Russia relations now after 10 years. A whole host of areas of co-operation and then President Putin. Like the Secretary General, both welcomed that. That was not simply formality. There is quite a bit of substance in Russia. The NATO-Russia Council agreed to, for example, enhance the co-operation between NATO and Russia on Afghanistan; extending, as one example, our counter-narcotics co-operation through 2008 or at least into 2008.

Second, we opened for the first time for whatever it's worth, a NATO-Russia website. So you can go to the NRC website and have a look now.

Second… well second, third and fourth; three issues where NATO and Russia don't always see eye to eye. First CFE; second, missile defence; third, Kosovo. The President outlined at some length and in some detail the Russian position on CFE. The Secretary General and he engaged in quite a detailed discussion of the various chapters, sub-chapters, footnotes and codicils of the CFE Treaty. No changes in position on either side. The Secretary General certainly reiterated the desire of NATO countries and the intent of NATO countries to ratify the adapted treaty as soon as the Istanbul commitments, including the requirement for host nation support as set out in the treaty.

On missile defence the President and the Secretary General discussed this at length. Clearly the next opportunity for progress will be in Kennebunkport at the beginning of next month when the two Presidents, Russian and American, meet. Missile defence will certainly be on the agenda and I think there's not really much more for me to add to this subject.

Kosovo, again quite a long discussion. The Secretary General reiterated to the Russian President that, while NATO is not in the Security Council, that he is the head, the civilian head, of an organization that has 16,000 troops in the field and potentially in the firing line in Kosovo and he has, our Secretary General, the Secretary General, has an interest in a political process in the Security Council that as quickly as possible results in a resolution which all Allies believe should be based on the Ahtisaari proposals.

President Putin of course has a different view. You know the Russian view. It was repeated and that's where we are. That's all for the moment I'll say on this.

Second, the Secretary General met this morning with the Serb Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic (if I'm pronouncing that properly, probably not). Three issues.

One was the new NATO-Serbia relationship through Partnership for Peace. The Serb Minister promised as soon as possible to provide to NATO the presentation document, as we call it; the necessary documentation to take this relationship forward. But certainly he stressed Serbia's commitment to this political relationship. There are no political issues here, only technical ones. The Secretary General looks forward to it, but there are no, as I say, no political issues between us on this front.

Second issue was Kosovo and this was unsurprisingly the bulk of the discussion. The Serb Minister is clearly very concerned with the security situation in Kosovo, in and around Kosovo, today and in future. He appealed to the Secretary General for NATO to do whatever it can to protect minority populations and patrimonial sites. The Secretary General stressed his commitment, KFOR's commitment, to do everything necessary to protect both majority and minority populations and patrimonial sites in co-operation with the UN and KPS.

The Secretary General also told the Minister, and now I tell you, that on Friday he will go to Kosovo. He will meet with the SRSG Dr. Kouchner, as well of course as COMKFOR General Kather. He will meet with the Unity Team, he will meet with Serb leaders, including one I'm sure you know, Mr. Oliver Ivanovich, but others as well, and then do a press conference before coming home. He will of course do two things. One is to get an assessment of the political and security situation from the political and military leaders on the ground. He will then stress to leaders of all communities that any attempt to use violence to influence the political process will be met with a stiff response from KFOR.

Okay that's what I wanted to say on Kosovo.

He will be…and now I move to the next issue, which is the EAPC Security Forum, on his way back from the EAPC Security Forum. I don't know… has the media program been released already? Do they all have it yet? No? No. Okay. You will get the media program. I want to just give you, if you want, a quick snapshot of what will be on offer.

It will begin… there will be some social events on Thursday evening. On Friday the meetings begin. The Secretary General, the host nation Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister will open the meetings with statements. There will be three panels starting at 10:30.

One on Afghanistan; it will have the Deputy Defence Minister of Afghanistan, General Nouristani, Mr. Espen Barth Eide (you might all know him, a State Secretary from Norway), General Carl Eichenberry. I'm sure you all know him from his former OEF days; he is now the Deputy Chairman of NATO's Military Committee, as well as the Foreign Minister of Croatia.

The second panel will be on Kosovo. The host nation Foreign Minister, the Foreign Minister of Hungary, the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria and the Director of Political Affairs of UNMIK will all be speakers.

Third panel - Energy Security - hosted by the illustrious Jamie Shea, or chaired by the illustrious Jamie Shea, with the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Kyrgyz Republic State Secretary, and a Deputy Assistant Secretary from the U.S. State Department.

There will be a press conference by the Secretary General at 11:45. More panels in the afternoon.

Afghanistan winning the peace. You will have the Director for the Centre of Conflict and Peace Studies in Kabul, Mrs. Christina Lamb, who you all know from the Sunday Times, and Alistair McKechnie, the World Bank Country Director for Afghanistan, as speakers.

Next on - Prospects for Euro-Atlantic Integration of the Balkans - chaired by the illustrious Martin Erdmann, with the Foreign Ministers of Romania and Albania, Wolfgang Petrich, Austrian Ambassador to the UN and WTO, and Gerald Knaus who is the President of the European Stability Initiative.

Finally on energy security - What Role for NATO and Other International Organizations. You'll have the Economics Minister of Poland, Dr. Edward Chow from the CSIS in Washington, and Ms. Dagmar Graczyk of the IEA.

And that will be the end of this very interesting meeting. Is there anything else I need to mention to you? I think that's it. Yes, sorry, one last thing.

Next Tuesday, the Secretary General will be in Rome for the conference being hosted by the Italians on Afghanistan. He will be, if our current plans are confirmed, but I will give you the planning since I don't have another opportunity to speak to you. Meeting with Prime Minister Prodi and Defence Minister Parisi and I hope that there will be a press conference at noon on Tuesday and we will announce if possible any other press opportunities that are there. He will of course speak and I believe open with someone else, probably the Prime Minister, the meeting. But certainly he will be… yes, that is confirmed.

That is what I have to tell you and I am happy to take your questions if you have any at all.

Mr. Ames?

Q: Just looking ahead at the EAPC Security forum  agenda. Energy security seems to be playing a large role. Have we come to any conclusions into what NATO's role could be in energy security? It's been talked about for some time now. Where do we stand?

APPATHURAI: It has been talked about at length. No hard decisions have been taken as to what role NATO might play. The discussion continues within NATO on defining the parameters of where NATO could potentially add value to what is going on on national basis' in other international organizations as well. So there has not been I would say a concrete development within NATO since then, but many of the countries that are coming to the EAPC Security Forum… or let me put this another way.

The EAPC brings together a number of countries that play a variety of roles when it comes to energy; as producers, as countries that host transit facilities like pipelines, that are surrounding critical or potential areas of energy production like the Caspian, and of course everybody is affected by the larger questions of energy security in the west. So the EAPC is really the right forum to bring together, for example, a Minister from Azerbaijan and a Minister from Kyrgyzstan to discuss energy issues with NATO officials and political figures as well.

(PAUSE)

This is going to be the shortest one ever. Let's go down there first.

Q: Let's (inaudible) by 100 percent.

APPATHURAI: (Laughs)

Q: In this morning's discussion with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, anything dealing with Mladic?

APPATHURAI: Yes and no. No specific mention of Mladic, but the Minister stressed the new government's commitment to meeting its ICTY obligations. He noted the positive words of Madame Del Ponte when she had been in Serbia. He noted that two of the six remaining indictees have now, since the new government took office, been turned over, and reiterated his government's determination to clear this issue off the international agenda.

Please.

(POOR SOUND)

Q: Mrs. Del Ponte was less than…

APPATHURAI: Complimentary? (Laughs)

Q: (Inaudible)… with the Europe (inaudible)… she's quoted… as not exactly a dream.

APPATHURAI: Yes.

Q: But hoping for co-operation from NATO or other organizations (inaudible)… countries… was a dream… a nightmare. Anything to say?

APPATHURAI: Yes. No international organization has done more to support the international tribunal than NATO through military operations, in particular in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which continue to this day, by in some cases arresting,  supporting the arrest of and transporting indictees. Most recently… do you remember his name Simone, the -

SIMONE: Tolimir.

APPATHURAI: Tolimir. NATO played a supporting, but active supporting role, during his apprehension and certainly in his transport as you will have seen from the press release that was put out by our headquarters in Sarajevo. I can also tell you that I have personally been at many discussions between the Secretary General and Madame Del Ponte discussing increased and increasing NATO support to the Tribunal when it comes to providing intelligence or information. And the Secretary General has stressed to her in private, as I'm sure he would in public, his full commitment that he has had from the day he took office that NATO should provide as much as it has to the Tribunal and we have always done that. I have seen, as Simone has seen, constant support to the Tribunal.  So I have to say we do our best.

Q: James I understand the events, NATO-Russia events in Russia last week, were not festivities and what is the general conclusion of these meetings of these events. And what can be the next steps on development of NATO-Russia relations?

APPATHURAI: There is a formal statement - you will have seen it - and so I have limited flexibility to go beyond that. But my personal impressions? I will give them to you. The mood was quite positive, perhaps more positive that all of us might have anticipated. You will have seen the public comments both by the Foreign Minister and by the President which stress the value that Russia places, as we do, on the NATO-Russia Council. So a good tone; a lot of focus on the need to look forward and not to look back and to see how to deepen the co-operation between NATO nations and Russia through the structure of the NRC. And Afghanistan was something that came up quite regularly, as well as Operation Active Endeavour. You know that a Russian ship will soon once again be supporting that operation.

Very frank, but I would say friendly, discussion on the three issues where there is clear light between NATO nations and Russia - on missile defence, on Kosovo, on CFE, but it was very much a workman-like constructive discussion. If I were to take away a conclusion, it would be that there are fundamental differences of perception more than anything else. There are differences of perception on key issues; for example, on what kind of threat Iran does or does not pose in terms of its development of missile technology; on what kind of capabilities a Russian… or a U.S./Polish/Czech missile defence system might or might not have in future; and on whether or not the Istanbul commitments have been met.

But these differences of perception can be dealt with through dialogue. There was a collective desire to engage in dialogue and the Secretary General made very clear in private, as he had done also in public, that what is not productive is megaphone diplomacy and I think that's where I would stop.

Q: Just on energy I noticed the Polish Minister speaking at one of the energy security sessions. Is there pressure coming from Poland to make this more of a NATO issue given Poland's somewhat sort of fractious relationship with the European Union on this question?

APPATHURAI: I think to greater or lesser extent, all the NATO nations recognize that there is a role for NATO to play when it comes to energy security. The question is what that role might be. And as in many cases, where you stand is where you sit; different countries have different exposure to energy issues than others. But what we do have is a shared desire - and this comes from the Riga Summit communiqué - so all 26 have agreed, and you can go and have a look, that this discussion should begin in NATO to define the parameters of what NATO should or should not do and that is where we are. It has taken a long time. I think the Secretary General believes that it has taken too long to define these parameters and he would like that work to go forward. But as in all things, at 26 these things are complicated. Nothing happens quickly at NATO.

Q: James which level do you expect from Russia or Bulgaria of Turkmenistan to this meeting tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. In Rome, do you expect energy security questions in any way… meeting between Prodi and Secretary General?

APPATHURAI: I suspect that in Rome the focus of discussion will be Afghanistan. Not only is that the subject of the conference, but it is the number one issue that the Secretary General addresses with every world leader. When we were in Canada last week, that was the number one topic of discussion, and certainly with NATO nations there's no doubt that Afghanistan will be the primary, if not the only, subject of discussion.

I believe the Secretary General may meet also with the UN Secretary General. Actually those may be the two who are opening. Anyway, he will likely meet with Secretary General Ban and I'm absolutely sure that Afghanistan will be the number one topic on their agenda as well.

S'il n'y a pas d'autres questions....?

Q: Sur l'Afghanistan, l'OTAN a plus peur sur le plan politique sur (inaudible) par la mort de ses soldats que son opinion politique... que son opinion publique soit émue par la mort constante de dizaines de civils jour après jour en dépit des plus solennels engagements il y a encore quinze jours ici par des ministres très concernés par ça.  Et après coup, on voit le désastre.  Depuis quelques semaines, c'était (inaudible) qui commettaient quelques "collateral damages".  Puis, maintenant, ISAF s'y remet aussi apparemment.  Donc, ou bien les militaires sont incompétents ou bien les Talibans sont très, très forts.  Ou bien il y a des idiots partout.  En tout cas, il y a un problème politique majeur.  Est-ce que l'OTAN a l'intention de prendre des mesures décisives?  Ou est-ce qu'ils considèrent que ça fait partie de la guerre.  Donc, il y aura toujours des civils tués. 

APPATHURAI: l'OTAN prend ça très au sérieux, très, très au sérieux.  Il y a eu encore une fois aujourd'hui une longue discussion à ce sujet au sein du Conseil Atlantique, comme chaque semaine d'ailleurs.  Parce que ça préoccupe tous les ambassadeurs et toutes les capitals, d'ailleurs pour des raisons qu'on a discuté premièrement, pour réduire au maximum les pertes civiles parce qu'il faut le faire.  Et deuxièmement parce qu'évidemment les pertes civiles ont un effet à la fois sur la population afghane et nos opinions publiques aussi.

Il y a et continue d'avoir une revision constante des procédures au sein de l'OTAN du point de vue coordination entre l'OTAN, OAF, ou CJT-82 et avec les Afghans. 

J'ai vu un "press release" par le ministre de Défense afghan qui propose des mesures pour approfondir la coordination entre les forces internationales et les forces de sécurité afghanes  une force afghane.  Et ça va être discuté.  L'OTAN donne des instructions claires à tous les soldats de faire le plus que possible pour éviter des pertes civiles. 

Le général McNeil est évidemment en contact constant avec le Président Karzai.  Et je sais qu'au moins un pays, je pense plus, ont déjà mis plus d'argent dans notre fonds d'affectation spécial, "trust fund, I think that's the real translation".   Je vais le dire en anglais:  "Post Operational Humanitarian Fund" qui est à la disposition de COM-ISAF pour essayer de mitiger les effets dans des communautés après des opérations. 

Tout ça étant dit, il faut toujours mettre ça en relief, dans son contexte.  Et on le dit chaque fois, mais je vais le répéter.  Le Taliban a comme stratégie d'attirer les bombardements, les attaques de l'OTAN sur les civils.  Ils attaquent les forces de l'OTAN.  Et ils se retirent dans des maisons, dans des communautés.  Si l'ISAF sait ou a une suspicion qu'il y a des civils dans l'endroit où se cachent les Talibans ou d'où tirent les Talibans, ils ont une politique de ne pas répondre.  Et ils ont très, très souvent suivi cette politique et arrête des réponses militaires.  Mais s'ils ne le savent pas, c'est là où on se trouve dans cette situation.   C'est une situation compliquée par le fait qu'évidemment les Talibans ne se battent pas en uniforme.  Ils sont habillés en civil.  Et ça, ça rend encore plus difficile la tâche de nos soldats. Alors, leçons à tirer de, comme j'ai dit, de revoir constamment la façon dont nous faisons notre "business", d'approfondir la coordination. 

Je vous ai raconté une histoire... je raconte encore une fois.  Octobre passé, ISAF... c'était l'ISAF... qui conduisait des opérations, Opération Méduse, a tué des civils, la raison étant que c'étaient des nomades qui etaientt venus dans le quartier depuis quelques jours.  Les Afghans le savaient... l'ISAF ne le savait pas parce qu'on n'avait pas à l'époque suffisamment de coordination.  On a essayé depuis de l'améliorer.   Alors, c'est là où nous sommes.

MODERATOR:  Please.

Q: Je suis sûr que vous avez parlé de tout ça avec (inaudible)...

APPATHURAI: Je suis sûr que le premier ministre et le ministre de Défense vont évoquer ce sujet mardi. 

You're all free.

Q: Dernière question.

APPATHURAI: Oui.

Q: Comment va le bébé Appathurai dont on entend parler depuis un moment?

APPATHURAI: Il se lève maintenant, depuis hier, j'espère que ça va continuer à 7h00 le matin.  Quelle beauté!  Merci de l'avoir demandé.