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On Sidelines Of NATO Summit, Macron Calls For 'Strategic Dialogue' With Russia
By RFE/RL December 03, 2019
French President Emmanuel Macron has called for comprehensive talks with Russia on the sidelines of a summit in London marking NATO's 70th anniversary.
"It's important to have a strategic dialogue with Russia," Macron said on December 3 during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, adding that the alliance should do so "with its eyes wide open."
President Vladimir Putin had earlier hinted that Russia was open to cooperation with NATO on common threats, including international terrorism, but complained that its attempts to forge closer links had "practically been curtailed."
Trump was conciliatory towards Macron at their joint press encounter, after criticizing the French leader's remarks about NATO's "brain death" earlier in the day.
The United States and France shared "many good ventures," Trump said, while playing down what he called a "minor dispute" on trade.
The 29 NATO leaders attended a reception with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on December 3 in the evening, followed by a visit to 10 Downing Street, the official residence of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Several hundred protests marched from Trafalgar Square toward Buckingham Palace during the royal reception.
Preparations for the two-day summit have been overshadowed by a heated debate inside the alliance over defense spending, policies concerning Syria, and a bitter dispute between France and Turkey.
Despite the current strains, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who shared omelette and sausages with Trump over breakfast, tweeted that the pre-summit talks had got off to an "excellent start."
NATO was "the most successful alliance in history," Stoltenberg told CNN ahead of the gathering.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was set up by the United States, Canada, and 10 European countries in 1949 on the principle of collective defense amid concerns over Soviet expansion.
Describing NATO as "brain-dead," Macron last month complained about a lack of political and strategic coordination within the alliance -- an assessment that drew sharp criticism from allies.
Macron said that he saw a waning commitment to the transatlantic alliance by the main guarantor of stability in Europe -- the United States -- citing Washington's failure to consult the allies before pulling forces out of northern Syria in October.
The U.S. pullout cleared the way for NATO-member Turkey to push into areas controlled by Kurdish militias considered as terrorists by Ankara, deepening fractures between Turkey and other members of the alliance.
Hours after landing in London, Trump, who has pressed hard for other member states to meet the alliance's spending rules, had accused Macron of being "nasty" for saying NATO was "brain-dead."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on November 29 also lashed out at Macron, saying the French leader should have his "own brain-death checked" and accusing him of "a sick and shallow understanding" of terrorism.
And on December 3, Erdogan said Ankara would oppose the alliance's plan for the defense of Baltic countries if the alliance did not recognize groups that Turkey is fighting as terrorists.
Asked if the matter could be resolved by the end of the London summit, Stoltenberg on December 3 said, "I will not promise that, but what I can say is that we are working on that."
In an interview published earlier the same day, Stoltenberg said NATO would respond to any attack on Poland or the Baltic countries.
"Through the presence of NATO forces in Poland and in the Baltic countries, we are sending Russia a very strong signal: if there is an attack on Poland or the Baltic countries, the whole alliance will respond," he told a group of newspapers.
Turkey has also been criticized for buying a sophisticated Russian air-defense system -- a move that prompted the United States to threaten sanctions and to remove Ankara off its F-35 fighter jet program.
At a meeting of Russian military leaders in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, President Vladimir Putin reiterated Moscow's view that NATO's expansion poses a threat to Russia.
Despite persistent tensions between Moscow and the West, Putin said Russia remained ready to cooperate with the military alliance.
"We have repeatedly expressed readiness...to jointly resist real threats, including, as we know, international terrorism, local armed conflicts, [and] the danger of uncontrolled proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," he said, according to the TASS news agency.
Stoltenberg announced last week that nine NATO allies were now meeting the spending target of 2 percent of gross domestic product, "up from just three allies a few years ago."
By 2020, European allies and Canada will have invested $130 billion more since 2016 -- the year Trump was elected, Stoltenberg said on November 29.
In a tweet on December 2, Trump took credit for the allies' commitment to increase spending levels.
"In the 3 decades before my election, NATO spending declined by two-thirds, and only 3 other NATO members were meeting their financial obligations. Since I took office, the number of NATO allies fulfilling their obligations more than DOUBLED, and NATO spending increased by $130B!" he wrote.
With reporting by Defense News, AFP, BBC, Reuters, and TASS
Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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