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Russian president renews proposal on new European security pact

08 October 2010 01:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday renewed his country’s proposal for a new European Security Pact to replace existing security and problem-solving mechanisms in Europe, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

He said the proposed new pact could be very useful, because it would help solve problems in Europe which cannot be solved otherwise.

"Europe is not only North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and is not only European Union," Medvedev said in Nicosia after talks with Cyprus President Demetris Christofias during a one-day visit to the Mediterranean island.

"There are many other countries and at times there are conflicts and problems sometimes very painful, like here in Cyprus, " he said in reference to the 1974 Turkish military intervention following a coup by Greek army officers.

Medvedev added that there are no institutions for problem solving at the time.

"Existing mechanisms in international pacts and institutions are not effective and are not binding. Security in Europe is tailored to Pacts, either NATO or the European Union or other organizations," said the Russian president through an interpreter.

He further said the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) could not be considered an effective mechanism for solving long-standing and painful problems in Europe.

"We do know this from our own experience," he said.

"This means we need something else and this could be a new agreement between all European countries and all mechanisms and alliances and all European institutions," Medvedev added.

He said that the proposed mechanism could work for the solution of problems both before and after a crisis.

Medvedev said the initiative is not against NATO or other European institutions.

"The issue is not against whom is this initiative, but that there are problems, there are targets which cannot be attained and we need contemporary and all-round possibilities of settling problems," he said.

The Russian leader said the idea, like all other ideas, may not be perfect, but it is a proposal which Russia will continue to promote with its partners in Europe and all others who are interested in it.