From James Stavridis, Allied Command Operations: NATO’s relationship with Russia is a complicated partnership with many facets. Building that relationship has taken time and effort from both parties and I am encouraged to see progress in many areas since the Lisbon Summit in 2010. . . .
The good news is that over the past several years, we have created several zones of cooperation with the Russia that have produced reasonably good results. They include:
– Counter piracy operations, where Russian ships routinely operate in the same waters as NATO warships. . . .
– Afghanistan, where Russia has made contributions to the Afghan Security Forces of small arms and ammunition. They have also. . . been helpful with logistics, including allowing a transit arrangement that helps sustain the ISAF mission and facilitates redeployment.
– Military exchanges and training exercise have also been reasonably successful. Russian soldiers, sailors, and airmen have been in exercises with U.S. and NATO nations in accordance with various work plans. . . . .
– In the High North / Arctic region, we all agree that this area of the world must remain a zone of cooperation, and concur that the Arctic Council — with the U.S., Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada, Iceland, and several other key nations — is the best forum for discussions.
– Counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics are two other areas where we have reasonable cooperation and a shared sense of the challenges. . . .
On the other hand, there are clearly challenges in the relationship.
We have an ongoing disagreement over Russian forces stationed in Georgia, as well as missile defence. Russia sees the NATO missile defence system as posing a threat to their strategic inter-continental ballistic missile force. We strongly disagree, and feel that the system is clearly designed to protect populations against Iran, Syria and other ballistic-missile capable nations that threaten the European continent. . . .
A recent quote by my friend Ambassador Alexander Grushko, Russia’s representative to NATO, gives a sense of the tension:
"These relations can only develop in the right direction if NATO observes the standards of international law. We can see that NATO’s military infrastructure is coming closer to Russia’s borders, and we have to take this factor into account in our defence planning. . . ."
I think we can continue to build on the areas of cooperation outlined above, but we cannot wish away the tensions and disagreements in the relationship. No one wants to stumble backwards toward the Cold War, so the best course for the future is open discussion, frank airing of disagreements, and hopefully seeking to build the "true strategic partnership" set out in the NATO strategic concept.
Excerpts from "Russia: A Complicated Relationship," by USN Admiral James Stavridis, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, Commander. (photo: Ger. Army Sgt. Emily Langer/NATO)