Clinton Calls For Fresh Start In NATO, Russia Ties

NATO foreign ministers are expected to agree to resume high-level formal ties with Russia after they were suspended last year.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday called for NATO and Russia to make a fresh start in relations, though she said the door to alliance membership must be kept open for ex-Soviet Georgia and Ukraine.

Allied NATO ministers appeared set to back a resumption of formal ties with Moscow -- suspended after its military thrust into Georgia last August -- in the interests of forming a broad front in the battle against Afghan militants and other threats.

"It's time to explore a fresh start. We can and must find ways to work constructively with Russia where we share areas of common interest, including helping the people of Afghanistan," Clinton said at her first top-level meeting of the 26-member alliance.

Clinton's comments were in line with the view of President Barack Obama's administration that it is now time to press the "reset" button and start a new page in ties with Moscow.

Clinton and other allies emphasised that differences persisted with Russia, particularly over Georgia. But she said that NATO had to find ways to "manage" these differences while at the same time standing up for its principles when security or other interests were at stake.

"We should continue to open NATO's door to European countries such as Georgia and Ukraine and help them meet NATO standards," Clinton said in prepared remarks.

Russia opposes NATO membership for the two former Soviet states because it fears encroachment by the military alliance on its sphere of influence.

The Bush administration led suspension of formal dialogue within a joint NATO-Russia Council, which directs cooperation on security matters between the two sides, after Moscow's incursion into Georgia last August.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that reviving these formal NATO-Russia ties now was the way to deal directly with concerns.

"We have obvious common interest with Russia: Afghanistan, counter-terrorism, the fight against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and others," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.

He added: "We are not shying away at all from the serious differences of opinion that remain between NATO and Russia, in particular about Georgia."

Clinton was also giving NATO allies a picture of the progress of Obama's Afghanistan strategy review and ask allies' views on the best way to deal with a worsening Taliban insurgency.

Washington is hoping to channel the wave of enthusiasm for Obama in Europe into increased practical assistance from NATO and elsewhere for the Afghan effort.

RUSSIA ALLOWS U.S. SUPPLIES

Lithuania, one of NATO's ex-Soviet members most wary of a more assertive Russia, struck the only negative note on upgrading ties with Moscow.

"At the moment I think it is premature to open the formal dialogue," Foreign Minister Vygaudas Usackas said, adding that NATO should use the time before its summit in April to urge more Russian cooperation.

But his Estonian counterpart Urmas Paet backed resumption of ties: "We will not block because there are lots of issues NATO and Russia need to cooperate on, like transit to Afghanistan, Iran, the Middle East, non-proliferation."

Russia set the tone for a new start by allowing a supply cargo for U.S. forces in Afghanistan to cross its territory this week, and NATO is keen to expand such cooperation.

Russia's Ria Novosti news agency quoted Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, as saying he believed the "period of estrangement" in Russia-NATO relations was "largely behind us".

Clinton has her first substantial meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Friday, with missile defence and strategic arms control expected to be key topics.

En route to Brussels, she said Washington wanted to put talks with Russia on a missile defence shield in Europe "on a serious track", and reiterated that the shield was aimed not at Russia but at deterring Iran.