Guest
Speech at a Meeting of the NATO-Russia Council May 28, 2002 Pratica di Mare air force base, Italy Выступление на заседании Совета Россия-НАТО 28 мая 2002 года база ВВС Италии Пратика-ди-Маре VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, First of all, I cordially thank our Italian friends and the Italian Prime Minister Mr Silvio Berlusconi, for their hospitality and the excellent organisation of this meeting. I can imagine how difficult it was to do what has been done within such a short space of time. The importance of this meeting is hard to overestimate. Until recently such a meeting of the leaders of Russia and the NATO countries, bearing in mind its format today and its quality, would have been unthinkable. But today it has become a reality. It is a reality that has been made possible through hard joint work and a readiness to conduct a committed and absolutely open dialogue. As has already been said here, twenty influential states have become aware of their common basic security interests in the fast changing international situation. They have become sufficiently aware of the need for greater interaction and of the global nature of new threats. Above all, the threat of international terrorism. On September 11 last year terror claimed thousands of human lives in New York and other American cities. And more recently, on May 9, the day of the Great Victory over Nazism, terrorists in the Russian city of Kaspiisk did not spare even women, old people and children. They desecrated the memory of those who gave the world freedom and hope. We remember that more than half a century ago humankind paid tens of millions of lives for the criminal shortsightedness and procrastination of political leaders in uniting their forces in the face of a common enemy. The task we face now is of a comparable scale historically. The current threat comes in a different guise, that is true. It has different habits. But it is no less dangerous to the destiny of mankind. That is why all the institutions and forms of international cooperation are being scrutinised for relevance and effectiveness in the face of the new challenges. We know that it will be a difficult test. It will take time, as the Secretary General recently wrote to me in a letter. I absolutely agree with that. It will take patience and strong political will. But that is the only way if we are to create a truly effective architecture capable of securing both our common interests and peace and security, which are indivisible. Being realists, we remember that the relations between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance have a spotty history. We have traversed a long path from confrontation to dialogue, from confrontation to cooperation. And we understand very well that the signing of the Rome Declaration only begins the building of a fundamentally new relationship. Indeed, I can confirm what our distinguished host, the Prime Minister of Italy, has said, namely, that we discussed it at length with President Bush in Moscow. But I must say that the decision to put relations between Russia and NATO on a new footing has met with understanding among millions of Russians. I believe that the people of Western Europe, the US and Canada will also regard this move as evidence that we are ready to assume the burden of responsibility for maintaining peace and stability on the planet.
