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NATO Enlargement Will Not Guarantee Security in Europe
Visiting Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov said in Bratislava Wednesday that Russia did not consider the process of NATO enlargement to be the right way to build European security architecture, the TASR news agency reported.
After meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda and his Slovak counterpart Eduard Kukan, Ivanov urged NATO to build pan-European stability and security, not to create division lines and different rates of security.
Russia is now proposing a dialogue on European security and will take constrained measures as a response to steps that might endanger it, he added.
Despite the fact that Slovakia's application to join NATO was unchangeable, Ivanov stressed, good relations between Slovakia and Russia should not be affected.
Kukan expressed the hope that high-level exchanges this year could further improve bilateral ties.
According to him, Slovak President Rudolf Schuster is to visit Moscow later the year. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasianov and Chairman of the Russian parliament Gennady Seleznyov will also pay a visit to Bratislava.
The two sides also discussed ways to deepen bilateral economic co-operation.
Ivanov welcomed Slovakia's willingness to participate in the construction of the southern branch of JAMAL gas pipeline leading from Russia to Western Europe, saying it would create a new model of energy security in central Europe.
Russia is one of the most important economic partners for Slovakia. Trade turnover between the two countries last year exceeded US$2 billion.
Ivanov, whose visit is the first by a Russian Foreign Minister since 1996, together with Kukan also opened the Russian Cultural Institute in Bratislava today.
Slovakia is the first leg of Ivanov's three-day European tour which will also take him to Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
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