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Tensions with Russia could prompt NATO strategy rethink

06 July 2015 21:46 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. NATO is preparing for a long standoff with Russia, reluctantly accepting that the Ukraine conflict has fundamentally transformed Europe's security landscape and that it may have to abandon hope of a constructive relationship with Moscow, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Some NATO allies, anxious to avoid a new Cold War or being dragged into an expensive arms race, had hoped the crisis in relations caused by President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region last year would blow over quickly, just as a chill over Russia's 2008 war with Georgia did.

But realization is dawning at NATO headquarters that that is not going to happen and that relations with Russia have entered a new frosty period that could last a long time, possibly requiring a formal change in the alliance's doctrine.

Both sides have escalated their rhetoric over eastern Ukraine, where the U.S.-dominated, 28-nation alliance accuses Russia of sending in troops to back pro-Russian separatists - charges denied by Moscow.

The tension has prompted debate about whether it is time to rewrite NATO's master strategy document, designed at a time when there were high hopes that the enmity of the Cold War years could be set aside and Russia and NATO could work together.

The "strategic concept", adopted by NATO leaders at a Lisbon summit in 2010, rates the threat of a conventional attack on NATO territory as low.

The document, which sets out the alliance's goals and missions, says NATO-Russia cooperation is of strategic importance and adds: "We want to see a true strategic partnership between NATO and Russia."

"Some of the language (in the document) having to do with Russia as a strategic partner of the alliance is certainly cast into question given Russia's behavior," U.S. Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute told reporters last month, though he said no decision had yet been taken to revise it.