Russia's Medvedev calls for overhaul of European security

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday made a new demand for a sweeping overhaul of European security, saying NATO alone could not handle the continent's post-Cold War challengers. In a keynote speech at a media forum, he vowed to make Russia more free and open, and said that despite basic differences with the United States he looked forward to constructive dialogue with the next U.S. administration. "Is the Atlantic alliance sufficient to solve all of the problems of security in old Europe? In my opinion the answer is no," Medvedev told journalists at the Russian Media Congress in Moscow. "The solution would be to prepare an all-encompassing European agreement in which all the state of Europe took part ..... All the other institutions are based on divisive principles," he said. The Kremlin has repeatedly complained that NATO is moving to dominate European security, usurping the power of the United Nations and leaving Moscow out in the cold by planning expansion to Russia's borders. In his first major foreign policy speech since succeeding Vladimir Putin, Medvedev last week called for a European conference to discuss a new treaty. But the call, made on a trip to Berlin, has received a muted response. Getting European allies on board to discuss a broad new treaty might be difficult, analysts said. The idea that NATO should disappear as a force in Europe "is not much of a basis for a conference," independent military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said earlier. The treaty proposal is little more than a reworking of Soviet-era proposals that had a "very weak impact on security in Europe," said Yevgeny Volk, head of the Moscow office of the U.S. Heritage Foundation. To reach an agreement, Russia would have to overcome what Medvedev described as "radically different" U.S. points of view on key security iddues in Europe. In particular, Medvedev named U.S. plans to extend a missile shield into the Czech Republic and Poland, the enlargement of NATO, and the Cold-War era Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty. But the kremlin chief said he had "guarded optimism" about ties with whoever comes to power in the United States in a November presidential election. In an apparent bid to distance himself from the authoritarian trends seen in Russia in recent years Medvedev also vowed to build a freer society. "Our immutable course will be the creation of a free and responsible society, the defense of human rights, freedom of the press and of speech and, of course, supremacy of the law," he said.

Ursula Hyzy