NATO ENLARGEMENT AND RUSSIA

Abstract

In 1997 NATO is expected at last to make a judgment on whether to proceed with its fourth enlargement since 1952. Caution has by no means dissipated. The US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, in early 1996 ruled out suggestions that the Clinton Administration differentiate towards those nations it saw as the early candidates: "We must resist the temptation to accelerate the enlargement process for certain countries," as this "could well jeopardise our ability to maintain the necessary consensus among our NATO allies"1 who, with the exception of the German Defence Minister Volker Rühe, do not convey the impression of viewing a widened Alliance as an historic opportunity. Presumably, however, NATO agreement to consider the 'next steps' at the NATO Ministerial in December this year must and will overcome this reluctance to make decisions on 'who' and 'when'.

References

1. 1 Letter to Jan Nowak, national director of the Polish-American Congress, 13 February 1996.
2. 2 Russian Federation, 'Memorandum on Devising a Common and Comprehensive Security Model for Europe for the Twenty-First Century,' 21 March 1996.
3. 3 Ambassador Marton Krasznai, head of the Hungarian OSCE mission in Vienna, presentation at the international seminar 'Common Security for the 21st Century,' Moscow, 12 April 1996.
4. 4. Interfax, 25 March 1996, reproduced in BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, Former Soviet Union, 26 March 1996.
5. 6 Remarks to the Political Committee of the North Atlantic Assembly, Moscow, 11 April 1996.
6. 7 Remarks to the seminar NATO Enlargement and PFP, NATO Defence College, Rome, 18-20 April 1996.
7. 8 Poland-NATO (Warsaw: Euro-Atlantic Association, 1995).
8. 9. Keynote address to the Political Committee of the North Atlantic Assembly, Washington DC, 15 November 1994.