NATO’s Chief Hails New Partnership With Russia
NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner on Tuesday proclaimed a new era of partnership with Russia, the alliance’s old Cold War foe, but said that actual Russian membership in NATO is not in the offing.
“They did not request membership,” he told reporters as he wrapped up a three-day visit to Russia and Ukraine.
But Russian leaders did agree to cooperate closely with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in preventing the proliferation of nuclear arms, expanding military contacts, converting defense plants to civilian production and sharing scientific knowledge, he said.
“It is no longer the time when we are adversaries, enemies,” Woerner said. “It is now the time of partnership and cooperation. It is together that we want to build a new Euro-Atlantic community, the new Europe, whole and free.”
He said that all 11 members of the Commonwealth of Independent States will be invited to a March 10 meeting of the new North Atlantic Cooperation Council, which unites NATO’s 16 nations with their longtime enemies, the countries of the defunct Warsaw Pact.
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