Oleg Davigora23:47, 11.10.24

Defense ministers will discuss how to develop a new NATO strategy towards Moscow that reflects the frosty relationship.

NATO defense ministers will meet next week and begin rethinking the alliance’s decades-old policy toward Russia in response to the threat posed by the Kremlin .

As Politico points out , relations between NATO and Russia hit rock bottom after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine. NATO called Russia “the most significant and direct threat to the security of allies.” The Kremlin claims that NATO’s eastward expansion is an existential threat.

However, despite the change in tone, NATO still maintains the “Foundational Act” with Russia. This is a document signed in 1997, 6 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which talks about the common goal – “to build a stable, peaceful and undivided Europe”.

The Russia-NATO Council – a body created after the Cold War for security cooperation and joint projects – has not met since 2022. Relations with Russia have steadily deteriorated over the years. A senior US government official said:

“NATO countries are now trying to “delineate the various elements of the strategy towards Russia and advance the debate within the alliance, which leads us to topics such as the future of the NATO-Russia founding act… The time has come to develop a new strategy from the point of view of the specific positions of the allies.”

According to the official, there is no draft of the new strategy yet, as the main focus is on gathering the opinions of 32 NATO countries.

It is noted that there are disagreements over how far NATO should go to create a new set of rules in relations with Russia. According to one of the NATO diplomats, some members of the alliance fear that a very aggressive new strategy could become a “signal” that would destabilize Russia.

In addition, there is a question about Hungary and Slovakia – two NATO countries that go against the rest of the alliance, continuing to maintain contacts with the Kremlin and considering interaction with Russia as strategically important.

(C)UNIAN 2024