Putin suggests cooperation with NATO on terrorism

4 October 2001

William Drozdiak, Washington Post

Brussels -- President Vladimir Putin called yesterday for a dramatic transformation in the structure of Russia's security relations with Europe and the United States in order to build a more effective partnership in the fight against international terrorism.

Arguing that global politics has experienced a tectonic shift in the aftermath of the devastating terror attacks in the United States, Putin insisted that his country wants to bolster security cooperation with the West. He said Russia is ready to reconsider opposition to NATO expansion if the alliance assumes a broader political identity and Moscow can be drawn into the process.

Concluding a two-day visit to Belgium, where he met European Union leaders and NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, Putin said that "it's high time to come up with practical solutions" to address changing priorities that have placed terrorism at the top of the global agenda.

Russia, he said, will start holding monthly consultations with EU authorities on how to thwart terrorist financing, share intelligence on criminal suspects, track false documents, and monitor movements of chemical, nuclear and biological materials.

Since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon three weeks ago, Putin has won praise in Western capitals for his strong endorsement of an international campaign against terrorism and earned greater sympathy for Russia's brutal conflict with Muslim separatists in Chechnya.

He insisted that Osama bin Laden's terror network is also aiding the Chechen rebels and said that deadly bombings of Russian apartment blocks two years ago "bore the same signature" of the Saudi dissident suspected of masterminding the suicide plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, called the pledge to combat terrorism "a gigantic step forward" toward a new strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and the EU. He said the monthly consultations will serve as "an important political pillar of cooperation" in the rapidly warming ties between Russia and Europe.

The EU has already agreed to a long-term "energy dialogue" designed to expand Europe's imports of Russian oil and natural gas and reduce the continent's dependence on energy supplies from the Middle East. European companies have rushed to sign contracts to start tapping into the vast oil and gas reserves beneath the frozen fields of Siberia.

Putin also emphasized his desire to see Russia abandon its adversarial stance toward the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which for the past 52 years was regarded by many Russians as their mortal enemy.

He outlined his plans for a more cooperative approach to the alliance in his hourlong conversation with Robertson and promised to elaborate further in discussions with President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Putin said he expects Blair to visit Moscow in the coming days.

The Russian leader said the challenge posed by global terrorism is forcing his country to take "an entirely new look" at NATO's enlargement plans. At a summit scheduled next year, NATO's 19 member states will consider the next wave of expansion that could include Baltic states that were once incorporated into the Soviet Union. Russia had previously drawn a "red line" against NATO encroachment on former Soviet territory, but Putin's remarks in Brussels show that he is clearly revising his thinking.

"If NATO takes on a different shade and is becoming a political organization, of course we would reconsider our position with regard to such expansion, if we are to feel involved in such processes," Putin said. "They keep saying that NATO is becoming more political than military. We are looking at this and watching this process. If this is to be so, it would change things considerably."

EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said yesterday that he will "accelerate" preparatory work on Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization. "As Russia's main trading partner, the EU strongly supports Russia's goal of joining the WTO," he said in a statement. The United States will also pull for Russia, he said.