28 March 2002 00:00
RUSSIAN STATE DUMA DEPUTIES, A DELEGATION OF THE NATO PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY HOLD A JOINT SESSION
A joint meeting of the Political Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the Defense and Security Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly has been held at the State Duma of the Russian Federal Assembly. The meeting also involved State Duma deputies, and representatives from the Foreign Ministry, the Security Council and the Defense Ministry.
The participants exchanged views on the state of and prospects for relations between Russia and NATO, military cooperation between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance, Russia's national security policy.
State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Dmitry Rogozin expressed the hope that there will be many such planned meetings that allow the sides to discuss topical issues in Russia-NATO relations within the framework of bilateral dialogue. Having noted the increased activity of NATO officials and their participation in the joint meeting, Rogozin stressed the readiness of NATO parliamentarians to discuss problems existing between Russia and NATO.
"It is hard to say now how much they will be able to influence the adoption of the final draft of the decision. And yet the meeting allowed us to openly express our views on possible scenarios of developments in the world and in relations between Russia and NATO," Rogozin said.
The Russian and NATO parliamentarians discussed military reform and the joint fight against terrorism. While discussing joint actions against international terrorism, the parliamentarians supported the proposal put forth by NATO Parliamentary Assembly Vice President Mario Palombo to create a shared databank on terrorism, and the proposal by State Duma Security Committee Deputy Chairman P. Burdukov to work out a unified international definition of terrorism.
Russian deputies and NATO parliamentarians called for further such contacts at the level of defense and security committees.
Rogozin warned against haste in creating a "big twenty", that is a new mechanism of cooperation and coordination of Russia's and NATO's interests and against attempts to tie this issue to NATO expansion. He also spoke at a joint meeting of the Committee members and representatives of the Political Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Rogozin condemned intentions to create "a group of twenty" by the next NATO session at the level of foreign ministers to be held in Reykjavik in May and described them as "the West's desire to neutralize Russia's negative reaction" to NATO expansion. The latter issue will be discussed at the summit in Prague at the end of the year. "Russia cannot approve NATO expansion in any way", he said.
Rogozin invited Western legislators to contribute to the development of Russia-NATO cooperation together with their Russian colleagues. In particular he proposed to set up a joint working group to revise Cold War-era legislative barriers.
___________________________________________________________
© Publication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
| 
RUSSIA IN FACTS