Reaction to NATO-Russia accord is varied (05/25/97)

Reaction to NATO-Russia accord is varied

JERSEY CITY,N.J. - Following weeks of intensive negotiations, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana and Russian Foreign Minister Yevgenii Primakov on May 14 announced the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between NATO and the Russian Federation. Almost immediately, the document evoked strong reactions within the countries most affected by the alliance's expansion plans, as well as disputes between Russia and the U.S. over interpretation of the document.

The act creates a Russia-NATO joint council that will meet semi-annually to consider common problems, according to wire reports. Other provisions of the document call for strengthening the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and revising the Conventional Forces in Europe troop reduction agreement. The key provisions call for NATO to not deploy sizable conventional forces or nuclear weapons in the new member states, the first tier of which is expected to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Former Polish President Lech Walesa, writing in Zycie Warszawy on May 19, called the agreement a huge blunder and said NATO had missed a great opportunity to explain to Russia in clear terms that it would have no say and could not place any conditions on the alliance's eastward expansion. Polish Foreign Minister Dariusz Rosati was more positive in his assessment, but said Poland would seek representation on the Russia-NATO joint council.

Reaction from Hungary and Romania was generally positive, with Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Severin telling Romanian Radio on May 15 that Bucharest hopes the agreement refers only to relations between NATO and Russia, and would not constrain choices by other countries, according to RFE/RL Newsline.

The Baltic countries were less positive in their assessments, with Lithuanian Parliament Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis telling journalists that he wished the text of the agreement would be made public prior to its signing and Estonian President Lennart Meri saying he was hopeful but still calling Russia an "evil empire" that must be challenged by former Warsaw Pact and ex-Soviet republics.

Russian politicians are divided in their views on the agreement. Defense Minister Igor Rodionov said on May 16 that the accord went a significant way towards smoothing out differences between the signatories, while his parliamentary counterpart, Duma Security Committee Chairman Viktor Ilyukhin took a different stance, calling the document "another example of the betrayal of Russia's interests."

President Boris Yeltsin's claims that the agreement gives Russia a veto over potential NATO members was downplayed by the U.S. government, with the Clinton administration claiming that such remarks were for Russian domestic consumption.

Mr. Yeltsin's words that Russia "would reconsider its relations with NATO" if the alliance expands to ex-Soviet countries were harshly criticized by Latvian Deputy Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins, who stressed every state's sovereign right to choose alliances. Mr. Riekstins, speaking to the press on May 19, added that "no OSCE member-country has the right to call into question this basic principle."

Meanwhile, Latvian President Guntis Ulmanis pledged yesterday to consider granting citizenship to aliens more quickly, ITAR-TASS reported the same day, quoting Mr. Ulmanis as stating that Latvia cannot remain a "special" country in which 30 percent of the residents have not been citizens for a long time.

The majority of Latvia's non-citizens are ethnic Russians who were relocated to Latvia after World War II, replacing hundreds of thousands of native Latvians deported by the Soviet government following Latvia's annexation in 1939.

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