Russia, NATO to Post Officers at Each Other’s Bases

Despite strong disagreement over the enlargement of NATO, Russia and the Atlantic Alliance decided Friday to station senior officers at each other’s military headquarters.

Russian Defense Minister Pavel S. Grachev and his counterparts from the 16 NATO nations agreed that the Implementation Force in Bosnia, known as IFOR, which includes a Russian brigade, has worked so well that the former Cold War enemies should extend that cooperation.

“We essentially agreed to build on the relationship that has already been formed by the Russians in IFOR and to institutionalize that relationship,” U.S. Defense Secretary William J. Perry said.

“There is an aspiration for deeper and closer contacts with us. Russia is ready for that,” Grachev said.

Under the agreement, senior Russian military officers will be permanently posted at four major North Atlantic Treaty Organization command sites, while Allied generals would work at Russia’s general staff headquarters in Moscow.

The NATO sites include its military headquarters outside Mons, in southwestern Belgium, and the regional commands for the northern, central and southern regions of Western Europe, located in Britain, the Netherlands and Italy.

A Russian general and half a dozen assistants have been working at the site near Mons since planning began last fall for the Bosnia operation, which involves 60,000 troops from 20 countries.

Despite the agreement, Grachev remained opposed to NATO’s plans for enlargement. The Russians fear that enlarging NATO will create new divisions in Europe and eventually isolate Moscow.