Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Boston Globe
June 6, 2008 By Associated Press
BERLIN - Russia's president showed muscle yesterday in his first major foreign policy speech since taking office a month ago, warning that a further NATO expansion eastward would ruin Russia's relations with the West.
Speaking to a group of German policy makers and business leaders, Dmitry Medvedev's warning continued the course of his predecessor Vladimir Putin - who fiercely opposed the alliance's plans to incorporate Russia's former Soviet neighbors, Ukraine and Georgia. Yet Medvedev also sounded more conciliatory, making offers to step back from confrontation and work out a new European security pact.
Medvedev, who was on his first visit to the West since he was sworn in May 7, said Russia wants to move closer to Europe. "By dismantling the Soviet system and rejecting its restoration . . . Russia has laid a foundation for forming a state fully compatible with the rest of Europe," he said.
"Russia today has come in from the cold, has returned from nearly a century of isolation and self-isolation," Medvedev said.
He said that in the post-Cold War world, old alliances such as NATO had lost their relevance and suggested its expansion reflected its search for new purpose. He proposed holding a summit to consider signing a new European security pact.
June 6, 2008 By Associated Press
BERLIN - Russia's president showed muscle yesterday in his first major foreign policy speech since taking office a month ago, warning that a further NATO expansion eastward would ruin Russia's relations with the West.
Speaking to a group of German policy makers and business leaders, Dmitry Medvedev's warning continued the course of his predecessor Vladimir Putin - who fiercely opposed the alliance's plans to incorporate Russia's former Soviet neighbors, Ukraine and Georgia. Yet Medvedev also sounded more conciliatory, making offers to step back from confrontation and work out a new European security pact.
Medvedev, who was on his first visit to the West since he was sworn in May 7, said Russia wants to move closer to Europe. "By dismantling the Soviet system and rejecting its restoration . . . Russia has laid a foundation for forming a state fully compatible with the rest of Europe," he said.
"Russia today has come in from the cold, has returned from nearly a century of isolation and self-isolation," Medvedev said.
He said that in the post-Cold War world, old alliances such as NATO had lost their relevance and suggested its expansion reflected its search for new purpose. He proposed holding a summit to consider signing a new European security pact.