President Medvedev, Chancellor Merkel focus on European security

Russia and Germany have agreed to do more to contribute to European security. The topic was high on the agenda of Saturday’s talks between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a government guesthouse, Meseberg Palace, outside Berlin.

Both sides pointed to an array of drastic changes that has taken place in the world since 1975, when the Helsinki Final Act on European Security was signed. The collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in the early 1990s prompted a spate of military conflicts across Europe, with simmering tensions currently in place in Trans-Dniester, Nagorno Karabakh and Kosovo. Medvedev and Merkel specifically cited 2008, when in violation of all international norms, Georgia unleashed an act of aggression against South Ossetia. Over the past few years, they said, a host of new organizations has been created in Europe, including the Collective Security Treaty Organization, whose potential has yet to developed.Separately, Medvedev and Merkel suggested considering the creation of a Russia-EU committee on foreign policy and security at ministerial level – a panel that will be headed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton.

"In particular, the committee could be empowered to become a forum to exchange views on current issues of international politics and security, to develop guidelines for joint civil/military operations conducted by Russia and the EU on crisis management," a statement on results of talks between two leaders of countries said.

Merkel said that in the EU headquarters there is a committee which works on security issues in a framework of the Russian-EU cooperation adding that the committee might be extended by foreign ministers of the EU and Russia.

Medvedev and Merkel said that the committee might also work on developing recommendations on issues of cooperation, including different conflict and crisis situations.

For her part, Merkel praised Medvedev’s proposal to create a forum on Russia-EU security, which will be based on a law-binding European Security Treaty Moscow initiated in 2008.

The Saturday talks also focused on abolishing visa requirements between Russia and the EU – an issue that highlighted the agenda of this week’s Russia-EU summit in Rostov-on-Don. With President Medvedev signaling Russia’s readiness to lift visas “as early as tomorrow”, EU deputy envoy to Russia Michael Webb remained cautiously optimistic on the matter, which he warned is unlikely to be tackled in the foreseeable future. Medvedev, in turn, emphasized that resolving the problem will contribute considerably to a full-blown collaboration between Russia and the EU. In Germany, he was quick to allay Merkel’s concerns that lifting visas would pose a security threat to Europe.

Of course, some fears will be in place, Medvedev admits, citing the potential abolition of the visa regime between Russia and the EU. In any case, the main focus should be placed on fighting crime, he insists, urging a full-scale crackdown on those looking to undermine security in Europe. In contrast, police should tread carefully on their attitude to ordinary people, who will travel to Europe on a visa-free basis, Medvedev concludes.

Also high on the agenda of the Saturday talks was Iran, which signals its readiness to continue uranium enrichment in a move that flies in the face of the international community. In connection with this, President Medvedev urged Iran to interact more with the UN, which has already threatened to slap stiffer sanctions on Tehran over its refusal to come clean on the nature of its nuclear program. “No one wants sanctions, but in some cases, they have to be agreed upon”, Medvedev said. He was echoed by Merkel, who said that the UN Security Council plans to vote on the matter in the near future.

The Voice of Russia, RIA Novosti