NATO, Russia agree on 'historic' cooperation agreement

Associated Press WriterREYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) -- Heralding the Cold War's funeral, NATO and Russia reached a historic agreement Tuesday to combat common security threats in the post-Sept. 11 era.

The announcement, which followed a meeting between NATO foreign ministers and their Russian counterpart, came a day after Russia and the United States agreed to shrink their nuclear arsenals.

"It is impossible to overstate the importance of this recognition, that NATO and Russia must stand side by side in defense of common values and interests in the face of the challenges of the new century," NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said in announcing the deal to establish a joint council of the 19 NATO nations and Russia.

"This is the last rites, the funeral of the Cold War," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. "Fifteen years ago, Russia was the enemy, now Russia becomes our friend and ally. There could be no bigger change."

The new NATO-Russia Council will set joint policy on a fixed range of issues including counterterrorism, controlling the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, missile defense, peacekeeping and management of regional crises, civil defense, search-and-rescue at sea, promoting military cooperation and arms control.

NATO officials say that the agreement will not affect the alliance's core mutual defense role and that safeguards are built in to ensure Moscow will not be able to veto NATO decisions if relations sour.

But Straw emphasized the cooperation will be more than symbolic: "It could make an enormous difference in the war on terrorism."

Buoyed by prospects for a new U.S.-Russia weapons treaty, the ministers uniformly described an atmosphere of good will and consensus on the first day of meetings in the Icelandic capital.

Capping an ambitious reform agenda to prepare for a summit in Prague in November, the ministers reviewed the alliance's plans to invite new members from eastern Europe, agreed to modernize NATO's military capabilities to respond to evolving threats and establish new relations with Ukraine and other former Soviet republics.

NATO "must change once more to deal with the threats of a new century," Robertson said. "Threats that cannot be measured in fleets of tanks, warships or combat aircraft. Threats no longer mounted by governments. And threats that can come with little or no warning."

NATO will inaugurate one of the most significant changes since the fall of communism on May 28 when President Bush joins other NATO leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first meeting of the new Russian-NATO council outside of Rome.

"Countries that spent four decades glowering at each other across the wall of hatred and fear now have the opportunity to transform the future of Euro-Atlantic security for the better," Robertson said.

Ahead of the Rome meeting, Bush and Putin are to sign a new U.S.-Russian nuclear arms treaty to cut their arsenals by two-thirds -- a deal that Bush said Monday will "put behind us the Cold War once and for all."

The pact arose from Putin's support for the West since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Under pressure from Washington to narrow the "capabilities gap," the NATO allies also agreed to improve the alliance's ability to move troops into conflict areas quickly, enhance strike capabilities as well as shared communications and intelligence -- all areas viewed as essential to combat threats revealed by the attacks on New York and Washington.

"The United States, which has the largest defense budget of all, is continuing to add more money to our budget," Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters. "We think that all of our colleagues in NATO should be doing likewise."

Ministers had no quarrel with Washington's push for modernization, but Straw said it would be difficult to secure broad public support for a big increase in defense budgets.

While specific recommendations will be worked out by defense ministers next month, the foreign ministers acknowledged that new threats mean NATO missions could be executed out of alliance territory.

"NATO must be able to field forces that can move quickly to wherever they are needed, sustain operations over distance and time, and achieve their objectives," the ministers said in a statement.

The ministers added Croatia to the list of nine candidates for expansion, but did not indicate which were favored to receive invitations for membership at the Prague summit.