Scheffer Speaks of NATO Expansion, Putin Calls it Provocation

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said while addressing the Munich Conference on Security Policy on February 10 that he wants to see more countries in the alliance by 2009.

?In 2009 I would like to see more countries in NATO. I would like to see a NATO of 26 plus. I would like to see Serbia firmly on the road to NATO. And I would like to see us coming closer to honoring the ambitions of Ukraine and Georgia,? Scheffer said.

On the same day Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Munich Conference, and said that NATO?s expansion to the Russia?s borders is ?a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust.?

?And we have the right to ask: against whom is this expansion intended?.. Now they are trying to impose new dividing lines and walls on us ? these walls may be virtual but they are nevertheless dividing, ones that cut through our continent,? Putin said.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer dismissed Putin?s remarks as ?disappointing? and ?not very helpful.?

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili, who is also attending the Munich Conference, hailed the NATO Secretary General?s speech.

?Jaap de Hoop Scheffer?s remarks mean that Georgia and Ukraine are part of NATO?s strategic plans,? Bezhuashvili told Georgian reporters in Munich on February 10.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told the Munich Conference on February 11 that Russia ?need not fear law-based democracies on its borders.?

He also said that although Russia is a partner in a number of endeavors, some of Russia?s policies ?seem to work against international stability.?

For examples, he cited Russia’s ?arms transfers and its temptation to use energy resources for political coercion.?

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