Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev showed muscle on Thursday in his first major foreign policy speech since taking office a month ago as he warned that a further NATO expansion eastward would ruin Russia’s relations with the West.
Speaking to a group of German policy makers and business leaders, Medvedev’s warning continued the course of Vladimir Putin — who fiercely opposed the alliance’s plans to incorporate Russia’s ex-Soviet neighbors, Ukraine and Georgia. Yet Medvedev also sounded more conciliatory, making positive offers to step back from confrontation and work out a new European security pact.
Medvedev, who was on his first visit to the West since he was sworn in on May 7, said Russia wants to integrate more closely into Europe.
“By dismantling the Soviet system and rejecting its restoration ... Russia has laid a foundation for forming a state fully compatible with the rest of Europe,” he said.
“Russia today has come in from the cold, has returned from nearly a century of isolation and self-isolation,” Medvedev said.
He said that in the post-Cold War world, old alliances such as NATO had lost their relevance and suggested its expansion reflected this and he proposed holding an all-Europe summit to consider signing a new European security pact.
“Atlanticism has exhausted itself,” he said. “Now we must talk about the integrity of the entire Euro-Atlantic space — from Vancouver to Vladivostok.”
Should NATO continue its expansion, the Russian president said that relations “will be undermined and radically spoiled for a long time to come.”
“There will be no confrontation, of course, but the price will be high,” he said. “That will inflict very serious damage.”
Earlier in the day, Medvedev met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier for talks that focused on Moscow’s ties to Berlin, as well as international issues.
He said his decision to make Germany his first European visit demonstrated Russia’s priorities.
“Germany is a strategic partner that we work with on a very high level of economic partnership and political contact,” Medvedev said.
Merkel grew up in communist East Germany and speaks Russian, but has engaged in relations with Russia that are more businesslike than the friendlier ties between her predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, and Putin.
She stressed that Germany and Russia — a major gas supplier to Europe — stood as “partners in a complicated world.”
But she also expressed concern about Russian checks on human rights and media freedoms.
Medvedev said improving Russia’s justice system was a “key priority for the development of our country” and he pledged that his government will protect media freedom.
Germany and other European nations have clashed with Russia recently over several other issues as well, including Kosovo, which declared independence in February from Russia’s ally Serbia.
Germany is among the many EU nations that have recognized Kosovo’s independence; Russia and Serbia fiercely oppose it.
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