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NATO, Russia upgrade relations at Rome summit
( 2002-05-28 14:22 ) (7 )

NATO and Russia, adversaries in the Cold War that ended barely a decade ago, upgrade their relations Tuesday with a summit taking place under intense security at an Italian air base outside Rome.

US President George W. Bush, Russian head of state Vladimir Putin and leaders of the other NATO nations will put their names to the Rome Declaration that will notably create a new NATO-Russia Council.

The new body will enable the 19-nation transatlantic alliance and Moscow to take common decisions in a number of predetermined areas, including the fight against global terrorism, non-proliferation and military cooperation.

Said a NATO official: "This will be the ultimate funeral for the Cold War."

The summit, organized by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, is taking place at the Practica di Mare air force base, 30 kilometers (20 miles) outside Rome.

Security is intense, with 15,000 police and soldiers mobilized, Italian warships sealing off the Mediterranean waters around the base, even restrictions on commercial airline flights into and out of Rome.

The actual summit venue at Practica di Mare -- described by the New York Times as "a sort of Cinecitta for world leaders" -- was purpose-built by 6,000 workers in three weeks at a reported cost of US$11.5 million.

Berlusconi, who held pre-summit talks with Bush on Monday night, has said the Rome Declaration would be nothing less than "a formidable instrument for security and peace in the world."

"This pact confers a new global status on Russia and commits the West and its military alliance to a partnership with Moscow," he said, adding that the next step should be a greater "opening" of the European Union to Moscow.

NATO, Russia trying to reassert itself after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1992, signed their first cooperation pact in Paris exactly five years and one day ago Tuesday.

Boris Yeltsin was Russia's leader then; Bill Clinton was in the White House and Tony Blair had only just been elected Britain's prime minister.

But its "19 plus one" structure meant that the original NATO-Russia forum was little more than a talking shop for exchanging views.

It was so ineffective that Russia suspended its participation in 1999 in protest over NATO's decision to wage an air war against Yugoslavia over Kosovo, a perennial Balkans tinderbox.

Relations started drifting back to normal after Putin came to power last year, but the tempo picked up dramatically after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

The fresh spirit in East-West relations was underscored over the weekend when Bush paid a four-day visit to Russia. The European Union holds its own summit with Russia on Wednesday in Moscow.

The new NATO-Russia Council will meet every month at the ambassadorial level in Brussels, with foreign and defense ministers to each hold their own gatherings twice a year.

Russia will not, however, have the power to veto decisions taken by consensus by the North Atlantic Council, which will remain NATO's top policy-making body.

Tuesday's summit opens at 10:30 am (0830 GMT) with statements by NATO Secretary General George Robertson, Putin, Bush, and other leaders, according to a program released by the Italian foreign ministry.

Signing of the Rome Declaration will begin at 12:20 pm, followed by lunch and, at 3:10 pm, a press conference.