The Hindu : International : Russia, NATO sign status of forces pact

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Friday, Apr 22, 2005

International

International

Russia, NATO sign status of forces pact

Vladimir Radyuhin

Both sides hail agreement; legal, financial terms laid down

JOINING FORCES: The French Foreign Minister, Michel Barnier (left), the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice (centre), and other leaders during a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission in Vilnius on Thursday. — PHOTO: AP

MOSCOW: Russia and NATO signed an accord facilitating joint military training and transit of troops through each other's territory.

The Status of Forces Agreement, signed at a Russia-NATO Council meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Thursday, lays down legal and financial terms for the temporary deployment of armed forces for training operations, emergencies and transit.

Both sides hailed the accord as a milestone for Russia-NATO cooperation that lays a legal basis for joint military training, peace-keeping and anti-terrorist operations, as well as for transit of NATO troops to Afghanistan.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Alexander Yakovenko, warned that relations with NATO might change for the worse if NATO invited members of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to join the alliance. Four CIS states, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijian, said they would seek NATO membership.

Target set

AP reports from Vilnius:

NATO Foreign Ministers agreed to boost military and political cooperation with the pro-Western government in Ukraine on Thursday, prompting the former Soviet republic to set 2008 as a target for joining the military alliance.

Meeting for the first time on the territory of the former Soviet Union, NATO ministers pledged to help Ukraine with reforms designed to prepare it for joining the alliance, but they stopped short of committing to membership.

Dr. Rice said the decision ``raises NATO's cooperation with Ukraine to a new level.''

Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Borys Tarasuyk, welcomed NATO's move as launching ``a new chapter'' in his country's relations with NATO. He said his country would now push forward changes to meet alliance standards.

``Ukraine may be ready to fulfill this ambitious programme of reforms in, let us say, three years' time, so by the year 2008,'' Mr. Tarasuyk told a news conference.

Reforms

Some NATO Ministers suggested the date was optimistic, given the reforms that Ukraine needs to implement to underpin democracy and overhaul its bloated military. After expanding deep into Eastern Europe last year to include Lithuania and the other Baltic states, NATO turned its attention further east, holding separate talks with Tarasuyk and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

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