They wanted to resume the work of the Russia—NATO Council. What you need to know

The United States wants to resume the work of the Russia—NATO Council, Bloomberg reported. Washington wants to reflect this initiative in its plan to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. However, Russia has not yet received confirmation of this information. When and why the Council was created and how important it is is described in the Izvestia article.

What kind of advice is this

• The Russia—NATO Council appeared in 2002. It was supposed to become the main structure for the development of cooperation and coordination of military and political actions between Russia and the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance. The Russian Federation and the NATO countries recognized themselves as equal partners in the established Council.

• The creation of the Council was the result of the signing of the "Founding Act" on relations between Russia and NATO. This agreement was signed by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the leaders of the NATO countries in Paris in 1997. On the eve of signing the document, the former head of the Russian Federation proposed to US President Bill Clinton a gentleman's agreement that no country of the former USSR should join NATO. However, after the signing, several stages of the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance took place: in 2004, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia joined it. Then Georgia and Ukraine wanted to join the union. The possible entry of the latter into NATO was one of the reasons for the beginning of its independence.

• The work of the Council was unstable almost from the very beginning. Cooperation was suspended twice: in 2008 after the war in Georgia, and also after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. The last meeting of the Russia—NATO Council was held in January 2022. After the start of the military operation in Ukraine, the work of this structure stopped for the third time. It is likely that even with the resumption of cooperation within the Council, it will function until a new escalation in relations between Russia and NATO countries.

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• The practical results of the Council's work are minimal. When conflict situations arose, Western participants unilaterally froze cooperation with Russia. However, the Council remains the only platform for maintaining political and diplomatic contacts, which in theory should help improve relations between Russia and NATO countries.

When will work resume

• Bloomberg reported, citing a source, that the United States wants to add to its proposal to resolve the conflict in Ukraine a clause on the resumption of negotiations within the framework of the Russia—NATO Council. The American authorities have included this aspect in the relevant plan.

• However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russia had not received any official proposals for the resumption of the work of the Russia—NATO Council. It is not at all clear whether the American side's proposal will be implemented. And if so, when will it happen. It also remains a mystery why Washington wants to restore the Council's work.

• The Russian parliament has repeatedly stated that cooperation on the site of the Russia—NATO Council was completely fruitless. At the same time, deputies and senators emphasize that the resumption of dialogue is not yet possible due to the fact that the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance continue to pump Ukraine with weapons and actually finance the continuation of the conflict.

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• The dialogue is also complicated by the fact that Russia regards NATO as one of the main threats to its national security. The countries of the North Atlantic Alliance also see Moscow as one of the main dangers. In such circumstances, achieving the Council's main goal of developing joint security solutions in the Euro—Atlantic region seems difficult to achieve.

• At the same time, the resumption of the work of the Russia—NATO Council may encourage the parties to engage in a dialogue on security guarantees on the continent. In December 2021, Moscow proposed to the alliance to commit not to accept Ukraine and other countries as members of the alliance and not to conduct any military operations on its territory. Russia's demands were ignored, which was one of the reasons for the start of the military operation in Ukraine. Now, against the background of the beginning of the negotiation process to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, Moscow continues to insist on developing clear security guarantees for all countries in the region in order to avoid a repeat of the conflict in the future. First of all, initially this included the non-expansion of NATO to the east and the neutral and demilitarized status of Ukraine.

When writing the material, Izvestia took into account the opinions of:

• Vladimir Olenchenko, Senior Researcher at IMEMO RAS;
• Candidate of Economics, Head of the Department Department of European Security of the Dmitry Danilov Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences.