Cold War Heating Up

MOSCOW : Russia issued a sharp warning to the United States and ex-Soviet republics looking to join the NATO alliance, saying expansion of the bloc into lands the Kremlin considers its backyard would have a "colossal" and negative impact.

In a statement to the Russian parliament, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that "membership in NATO for countries like Ukraine or Georgia would mean a colossal geopolitical shift" and would compel Moscow to respond to safeguard its security and other national interests.

"We evaluate all possible consequences first and foremost from the point of view of the national interest of Russia," he said.

The lower house of parliament, the Duma, overwhelmingly approved a "message" to the parliament of Ukraine expressing the "serious concern" of the Russian legislature at Kiev's goal of joining NATO.

Ukraine's drive to accede to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was a violation of a 1997 Russo-Ukrainian treaty and, if fulfilled, "would have negative consequences for the entire range of relations between our two fraternal peoples," the Duma message said.

Lavrov followed his warning to Ukraine and Georgia with an attack on US strategic policy, saying US plans to deploy low-yield nuclear weapons and mount conventional warheads on intercontinental missiles undermined agreements aimed at containing the spread of dangerous weapons.

He also accused Washington of backtracking on disarmament. ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Lavrov as saying the United States was trying "not only to remove the question of disarmament from the world agenda, but also from the public view."

Analysts said the broadside from two branches of the Russian government signalled that Moscow was fed up with efforts to expand Western influence on its borders.

Shortly after Lavrov spoke, the head of the Russian FSB national security service, Nikolai Patrushev, also rebuked the United States, accusing Washington of double standards.

"We see that in the war on terrorists, when they need to, they act forcefully, putting generally accepted norms on rights and freedoms of citizens on the backburner. It's enough to mention Guantanamo and the events in Iraq," Patrushev said.

The warnings to Ukraine came as pro-Russian lawmakers and protesters in Crimea demanded the cancellation of joint military exercises with US forces, supported by President Viktor Yushchenko, scheduled to take place this month.

In a sign that the pressure might be having an effect, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Leonid Polyakov said the exercises could take place in another country if Ukraine's deeply split parliament did not approve the access of foreign troops to Ukrainian territory.

But Ukraine's foreign ministry reiterated that Ukrainian membership of NATO posed no threat to Russia.

"There is no reason to perceive the rapprochement between Ukraine and NATO as unfriendly towards Russia," a Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman said.

The entry of Ukraine to NATO "can only reinforce the stability and security of Russia itself," the spokesman said, adding that the Kremlin had said it respected Ukraine's sovereign right to choose its own security arrangements.

"This reaction seems to us a bit over-blown and doesn't conform to reality," the spokesman said.

In Moscow, independent defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer was sceptical of Russia's ability to keep Ukraine out of NATO.

"This is a real serious confrontation with the West about the future of the post-Soviet space," Felgenhauer said.

"The leadership appears to believe that Russia can actually take on the West successfully and push NATO out," Felgenhauer said.

"They're living in a fool's paradise. This is a balloon that is going to hit a nail very soon."

In Brussels, a NATO spokesman called on both sides in Ukraine to avoid "politicizing" the exercises which he said were not technically being run by NATO but rather by the United States. - AFP /dt

Original article posted here.