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Yeltsin in Paris to sign NATO agreement
May 26, 1997
Web posted at: 11:47 a.m. EDT (1547 GMT)From Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty
PARIS (CNN) -- Russian President Boris Yeltsin arrived in Paris Monday to sign a pact between his country and NATO intended to pave the way for the alliance to expand into former Soviet bloc nations.
With his signature, Yeltsin will turn NATO's former enemy into an ally. Yeltsin will sign the security agreement, although he strongly opposes NATO's eastward expansion.
Some observers say the deal is the best Russia could get under the circumstances.
"Russia lost the Cold War and in my opinion this document is just fixing the victory of the West over Russia or over the Soviet Union," said presidential council member Andranik Migranyan.
The agreement, called the "founding act," gives Russia a seat on a NATO joint council in Brussels, Belgium. The alliance says Russia will have a "voice, but not a veto".
NATO also pledges that it has no intention to build up its forces or station nuclear weapons in central Europe.
Yeltsin insists it's a legally binding agreement, something NATO denies. Yeltsin's press secretary, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, seems willing to fudge the issue.
"The key word is responsibilities," he said. "Whether they have a political or legal character doesn't have any deciding strategic meaning."
But a leading reformer says the apparent contradiction is dangerous.
"I have a very serious concerns," said parliament member Grigory Yavlinsky. "(Yeltsin's) vision of this agreement it seems to me (is) very different from that what the people in Washington are saying."
Russia is threatening to pull out of the agreement if former republics of the Soviet Union are invited to join in the future. Russia is especially concerned about the status of Baltic states Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.
"Russia won't repeat the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia," said Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov. "However, Russia has the right to defend its own interests."
Legally, Yeltsin doesn't need parliamentary approval to sign the agreement, but he'll let the Duma vote on it anyway -- saying he'll give that vote "serious consideration."
Some Russian observers candidly admit the new security deal with NATO is a face-saving agreement for Russia. But how it will work out in practice is far from clear.
NATO, in the meantime, is expected to issue invitations to prospective members -- most likely Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic -- at a summit in Madrid, Spain, in July.
Related stories:
- Russia and NATO close to historic treaty - May 8, 1997
- Clinton to Paris for NATO-Russia Agreement - April 17, 1997
- Clinton and Yeltsin Agree to Disagree - March 31, 1997
Related sites:
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- NATO
- NATO-Russia Summit Paris, France - 27 May 1997
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