NATO, Russia Remake History With Accord

PRATICA DI MARE AIR BASE, Italy -- NATO took a step Tuesday that was at once extraordinary and a recognition of a new reality by formally bringing Russia into a unique role with the alliance created 53 years ago to defend the West against the Soviet Union.

Participants at an alliance summit here signed a document under which Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will work together to fight terrorism, control the spread of nuclear weapons, promote arms control, cooperate on such practical matters as search-and-rescue operations at sea, and react to unspecified potential “new threats and challenges.”

The pact, however, does not give Russia full membership in the alliance or the power to veto NATO policy decisions.

The agreement reflects the changes that have occurred in the decade since the fall of communism in Europe and the emergence of a Russia seeking stronger economic and political ties with nations it once viewed across a divide of angry rhetoric and devastatingly lethal weapons.

The meeting held out the prospect of an informal new military alliance girdling the Earth, stretching from “Vancouver to Vladivostok,” in the words Tuesday of NATO Secretary-General George Robertson. He hailed the new grouping most of all as a force to counter the “common enemy”: global terrorism.

President Bush and the leaders of NATO’s 18 other member nations sat at a round table in a building at this air base outside Rome, joined by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. Each delivered brief prepared comments addressing the new shape of the alliance and its future role with Russia.

“Two former foes are now joined as partners, overcoming 50 years of division and a decade of uncertainty,” Bush told the gathering. The new NATO-Russia Council established by the summit “offers Russia a path toward forming an alliance with the alliance,” Bush said.

“We have come a long way ... from confrontation to cooperation,” Putin said. “The significance of this meeting is difficult to overestimate.”

The bitter past was treated with extraordinary good humor. Near the end of the meeting, Putin cracked, “I think we should rename NATO headquarters, “Hall of the Soviets.’”

Robertson responded, lest Putin’s comment be mistaken: “I declare that to be a joke.”

But it was a joke with an edge. The council gives Russia an unprecedented role in NATO’s deliberations and will allow Moscow’s representatives to work in the alliance’s secrecy-bound Brussels headquarters. All 20 members will be equal, and the council will work by consensus.

Some analysts have expressed concern that by ceasing to treat Russia as a potential enemy, and by taking on more of a political character, NATO risks losing some of its character as a military alliance.

Russia will not have a veto, however, because any issue can be withdrawn from council consideration, meaning that NATO’s 19 members could act on their own whenever they deem it necessary.

Coming four days after Bush and Putin signed a treaty that calls for reducing their arsenals of deployed nuclear warheads by two-thirds, it is yet another reflection of lingering Cold War realities quickly giving way to a new geopolitical climate.

Yet aside from opposition to global terrorists and to practical dangers such as nuclear proliferation, the summit left open the question: What is NATO against? Or, if Russia does form a genuine alliance with NATO, what will the new group be against?

Such questions could cause unease in other parts of the world, particularly China, which has a centuries-long history of troubled relations with Russia and faces uncertainty about whether its ties with the United States will move toward greater cooperation or military rivalry.

Vaclav Havel, the Czech president who was jailed as a dissident during the Communist days, warned in a speech to summit participants that NATO and Russia must not set up an exclusive club of powerful northerners.

“It would be quite unfortunate if the partnership we have established today created the impression that the more affluent Northern Hemisphere is uniting at the expense of the Southern Hemisphere,” Havel said. “One way or another, the entire planet should move toward unity.”

Last year’s terrorist attacks on the United States were repeatedly cited as the driving force behind the new arrangements.

“Sept. 11, 2001, brought death to thousands of people in one act of terrible, criminal violence,” Robertson said. “But it also brought a message to the leaders of the democratic world: Find solutions, and find them together.”

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declared that those assembled must tell terrorists, “We are stronger, you will never be able to beat us, so give up this madness.”

Addressing a role that Russia has already taken on--joining the alliance created to fight terrorism--Bush said that the months since Sept. 11 “have made clear that by working together against these threats, we multiply our effectiveness.”

Among the other topics for cooperation cited in the declaration signed by the leaders were crisis management, mutual confidence-building measures, theater missile-defense systems, military contacts, defense reform and civilian emergencies.

The only significant security incident reported during the summit came when Italian fighter jets escorted a Sudanese passenger aircraft out of Italian airspace after the civilian jet failed to establish required radio contact with air traffic controllers, an Italian military official said.

The Airbus 320 had been flying over the tiny island of Ponza on a regular flight plan from Cairo to Paris about 1 p.m.

Created in 1949 as an outgrowth of global divisions in the wake of World War II, NATO reflected--and perhaps helped promote--decades of rivalry in Europe between the communist East and the capitalist West. At the time, the two sides faced each other across the Iron Curtain with nuclear weapons at the ready.

With the fall of communism, however, Russia has been given to ever-greater cooperation with the nations of NATO, whose most recently accepted members were once part of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. As the alliance prepares to expand again by inviting six or seven likely new members to attend a November summit in Prague, the Czech capital, NATO has looked for ways to bring Russia into a new relationship to advance common goals.

Russia is critical of NATO’s expansion plan but appears resigned to it.

Even with the new relationship, “Russia cannot have a veto over who becomes a member or not,” U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell told reporters Tuesday.

Powell said he did not foresee any serious risk that the new spirit of cooperation could break down, bringing a renewed Russian threat to the West. “I don’t think we’re going to see a rerun of this movie,” he said. “The movie didn’t play well the first time.

“The experience of the last 10 years is that, slowly but surely, Russia has come to the realization that its future lies to the West, and the West is coming to the realization that its future lies also with Russia,” Powell said.

The now-routine aspect of the new relationship was reflected in the speed with which the leaders moved through their remarks. Bush was allotted five minutes; he used three.

“We will be practical, moving step by step,” Bush said. “And as our trust and track record of success grows, so will the breadth and depth of our work together.”

Berlusconi, for his part, was clearly delighted to be the summit host.

“For me, this will remain one of the most beautiful memories of my life, which I hope will go on for more than 100 years,” Berlusconi, 65, said in a welcoming address that had many participants repeatedly smiling or laughing.

Putin stressed that his pro-Western foreign policy doesn’t mean that he will sign on to every U.S. initiative.

“It’s absolutely fundamentally important to understand that this cooperation ... must repose on the stable foundations of international law” and various international agreements, he said.

The comment could be interpreted as a warning that Russia would oppose, for example, an attack on Iraq. Russia traditionally argues that approval by the U.N. Security Council--where it holds a veto--is required for any such use of force.

Bush flew home after the summit, ending a weeklong trip that included stops in Germany, Russia and France.

The NATO-Russia Council will be chaired by the alliance’s secretary-general, and meetings among foreign ministers and among defense ministers will each be held twice a year. Heads of state and government will meet “as appropriate,” according to Tuesday’s declaration.

The document listed examples of goals in various fields:

In anti-terrorism efforts, the 20 countries will cooperate to counter threats to Russian and NATO military forces, civilian aircraft and other potential targets. An initial step will be “a joint assessment of the terrorist threat” to multinational peacekeeping forces in the Balkans, the declaration said.

Efforts will be made to explore “opportunities for intensified practical cooperation on protection from nuclear, biological and chemical agents.”

The declaration also foresees development of “inter-operability” of NATO and Russian military forces “through enhanced joint training and exercises.” The new partners will also “explore the possibility of establishing an integrated NATO-Russia military training center for missions to address the challenges of the 21st century.”

Holley reported from Pratica di Mare and Gerstenzang from Rome.