News conference by the Secretary General (Q&A)

Informal meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at the level of Foreign Ministers

JAMES APPATHURAI (NATO Spokesman): The first two questions are here and there.

Q: (inaudible)... Russia Today Television, from Russia, obviously. My question to you concerns the Russian... Russia's retreat from the CFE Treaty. Did Sergey Lavrov present his arguments to you? Did he understand them? Did he accept them? So according to you, what are the reasons behind Russia's retreat from the CFE Treaty, and what can be the consequences for the global forces and threats balance in Europe? Thank you.

JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER (Secretary General of NATO): Thank you so much. I see the arguments Sergey Lavrov has used, but you can ask himself in a few minutes, of course.
Are the arguments we've always exchanged, he adds then Bulgaria and Romania, which in the opinion of the allies are definitely not, I repeat not, in violation of the Adapted CFE Treaty. But the arguments are... let me then phrase it in my own words, as I perceive them. We want the Adapted CFE Treaty, we Russians want the Adapted CFE Treaty to be ratified. You don't do that. The argument you use by not doing that we do not share, and one of the arguments, as you know, there is no legal relationship between the Istanbul Commitments and ratification of the Adapted CFE Treaty. We disagree, there is a clear legal relationship. It's on paper. It's written down. You can read it.
So the arguments Sergey Lavrov used, as far as I perceive them, were not new. So I see it as a way of reaching a conclusion in Moscow, which I leave, of course, for our Russian partners, that this should be the way forward. Well it's a bit difficult to qualify this as a way forward, because it is not, of course.
But on the allies I'm quite sure and certain that despite what is now the Russian position, seemingly, the allies will completely adhere to the rules and regulations and the content of the Adapted CFE Treaty. I don't doubt that, because that has always been the allied position.

APPATHURAI: Financial Times.

Q: Dan Dombey, Financial Times.  Secretary General, may I ask, in what way is the Russians' unilateral decision to suspend de facto its adhesion to the CFE Treaty different from the U.S.'s decision to abrogate the ABM Treaty several years ago.

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: Well, this is a step taken by the Russians. That was a step taken by the Americans. But I'm not going to compare the AMB Treaty and the CFE Treaty where the whole of NATO is involved. So you can't compare the two. That is not the right... that's a false comparison.

Q: Stana Popovic, journalist from daily newspaper Dan, Montenegro. My question is regarding Montenegro. What would be, in your opinion, the hardest challenges for Montenegro on its way to Euro-Atlantic Integration, when it might become part... a member of NATO? And what do you think about current political situation in Montenegro?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: And now for something completely different.
(LAUGHTER)
DE HOOP SCHEFFER: I was... as you know, I was in Podgorica not that long ago and I talked to all the relevant Montenegrin interlocutors, and we discussed what is needed and what it necessary to follow the path of Euro-Atlantic... I speak for Atlantic integration, which is clearly a path, if I understood my Montenegrin interlocutors correctly, Montenegro wants to go.
And you know, the different stages and the different phases. What is now important, and that was the key decision, is that Montenegro is now in the Partnership for Peace and then you know how things go; an individual Partnership Action Plan, and the rest of the road.
NATO and NATO allies will assist Montenegro, wherever that assistance is necessary, and on the process itself, as you know, I cannot give you a date and timelines, because it is Montenegro in this regard which will have to perform.

APPATHURAI: Last question is here.

Q: Oystein Bogen from Norwegian TV 2. Mr. Secretary, in which way do you feel that today's Russian announcement about the CFE is linked to the disagreements about the missile shield?

DE HOOP SCHEFFER: I say once again that I do see these subjects in their own right. I don't believe in packaging, in a long career in foreign policy, and I don't see packaging. So we, and I, look at the subjects we are discussing, be it CFE, be it missile defence, be it the discussion in the Security Council on Kosovo, as subjects and items and elements in their own...