The NATO-Russia Council (NRC) meeting in Brussels has approved a Work Plan for 2012 and discussed ways to deepen cooperation over the following years, RTT News reported on 19 January.
The meeting of the 29 Chiefs of Defence within the NRC framework was held on the sidelines of NATO's Military Committee meeting that took place on 18-19 January. This 166th NATO Chiefs of Defence meeting, was the first under the chairmanship of General Knud Bartels and included top level military representatives of 67 countries who discussed in various formats the evolution of NATO and NATO-led operations, the implementation of the new NATO Command Structure and its military consequences. The only publicly accessible records of the meeting are the chairman’s opening remarks and a closing NATO press release.
NATO and Russia focus on six agreed areas of cooperation: Logistics, Combating Terrorism, Search and Rescue at Sea, Counter Piracy, Military Academic Exchanges and Theatre Missile Defence/Missile Defence. Because most of the details of this cooperation are classified, including the latest Work Plan for 2012, it is difficult to measure the actual scope and depth of collaboration involved. The NATO press release states that the NRC meeting “approved a series of documents related to NATO-Russia military-to-military cooperation. A Framework for NATO-Russia Military-to-Military Cooperation, the Military-to-Military Cooperation Road Map 2012-2014, and the NRC-MR Work Plan 2012 were all formally adopted”.
Russian Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov praised Russia-NATO achievements in 2011, which he said provided the basis for further cooperation in 2012. "On the whole, we have a positive impression from Russia-NATO military cooperation in 2011”, Makarov told reporters after the meeting (as cited in Russia Today). Russia’s top military official picked out some of last year’s high points in Russia’s partnership with NATO: "Vigilant Skies and Bold Monarch were the most significant joint exercises in 2011,” Makarov noted. “We also had useful contacts in military medicine, logistics, disarming of handmade bombs and personnel training".
Makarov also mentioned the “joint combating of pirates off the Horn of Africa,” which he said is now entering “a new phase” and the situation in Afghanistan, where Russia and NATO are “intensifying their interaction”. Given the urgency of the situation, Russia will continue to “render assistance to the peacekeepers in Afghanistan, primarily with the transit of cargo", he said.
However, much of the NATO-Russia cooperation remains largely symbolic and relatively unimportant. For example, following the meeting with military representatives, Russian armed forces chief General Nikolay E. Makarov presented awards to three senior NATO military officers. Lieutenant General Jürgen Bornemann, Director General of the International Military Staff (IMS), Colonel Karl Hanevik, Chief of the Special Partnership Branch of the IMS Cooperation & Regional Security Division, and Lieutenant Colonel Peter Van den Broeck, Staff Officer of the same Division, were presented with the medal of the Russian Defence Ministry "For the Strengthening of Combat Cooperation".
Gen. Makarov praised the NATO IMS Officers for their commitment in making NATO-Russia cooperation real. Lt-Gen. Bornemann emphasized that NATO-Russia cooperation was founded on team work, and that the IMS was committed to continuing its contribution to this success through building on the work of predecessors.
The periodic NATO-Russia Council meetings certainly provide a platform for the alliance's improved relations with its Cold War-era adversary, but fundamental disagreements between the two sides continue to prevent a deeper rapprochement. Although the Russian government agreed to co-operate with NATO in the implementation of the missile-defence system for Europe, for example, it continues to express serious concerns over the alliance's plans. In turn, Russian counter-proposals to bolster military forces in its Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad have been described by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen as “a waste of money”.