#6278
[Second Issue of the Day]
#5
Excerpts
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
May 28, 2002
PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL
Practica di Mare Air Force Base
Rome, Italy
Q: Secretary Powell, it's David Sanger from the Times.
SECRETARY POWELL: Hi, David.
Q: Hi. Early in the trip, Secretary Powell, the President said that one of the reasons we still keep some nuclear weapons -- 2,000 of them or so under the agreement -- is that you never know how things are going to change with Russia or with other countries.
Similarly with NATO, what have been the discussions internally and what is your vision of how NATO should respond if Russia turns in a different direction at some point in the future and becomes less of a partner and again a power that needs to be contained? And how does that fit into your new arrangement?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I really don't expect that to happen. I don't think we're going to see a rerun of this movie. The movie didn't play well the first time, and I see no reason why any future Russian leader with a state that is only, oh, roughly 55 percent of the size of the old Soviet Union would find it in its interest in any way to try to act in an aggressive manner. And, in fact, the experience of the last 10 years is that slowly but surely Russia is coming to the realization that its future lies to the West, and the West coming to the realization that its future lies also with Russia.
And so I am looking toward a bright future, and I think what we saw here today gives every indication that that bright future is achievable, it's not a dream.
At the same time, NATO was originally created for a political purpose, but also for a security purpose -- to defend the interests of the members of NATO, the charter members and those who have been added over the years. And NATO will be expanded, more members will be coming into it.
So the self-defense aspects of NATO will always be there, increasingly the capabilities that we have within the Alliance for its collective self-defense can be used for out of area activities, and that surely will be part of our discussion in the future.
We'll always have a hedge against uncertainty in the future, in our military forces and in the nuclear weapons that the United States will continue to retain. It is a hedge against the future, because there are other nations that possess nuclear weapons or might come to possess nuclear weapons.
I have been studying and training and dealing with nuclear weapons for a large part of my adult life, and I've seen the United States arsenal go from 29,000, when I was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 13 years ago, when I first took over, now heading down to a strategic arsenal that will only have 1,700 to 2,200 deployed warheads. That is an enormous achievement and it reflects a far more secure, a far better world than the world that existed when all of these weapons were on a hair-trigger ready to go back and forth against one another.
And so it is prudent for us to do this downloading, this restructuring of our military forces in a sensible way, patiently, over time, making sure that we keep a hedge against uncertainty.
I've also seen the size of our conventional forces go down significantly in the last 10 years because of the change in the strategic situation, the end of the Cold War. And we should, nevertheless, remember that there is always uncertainty in the future and it is appropriate for NATO as an alliance, the United States as a nation -- Russia as a nation -- to keep a hedge for that kind of uncertainty -- but not looking for conflict. Rather, the contrary, moving in an entirely new direction.
And I think you heard some of the former members of the Soviet Union speak to that, who are now members of NATO and welcome Russia into the NATO-Russia Council today. Mr. Havel, was I think particularly moving in his comments -- the Polish leader, the Hungarian leader, all took note of this remarkable change, a change that I think will continue to go in a positive direction....
Q: Mr. Secretary, can you tell us, sir, what type of issues the United States does not want NATO to discuss with Russia? And also, sir, to what extent do you see this new arrangement as a prelude to possible Russian membership?
SECRETARY POWELL: The issues we do want to discuss with Russia will include such items as counter-terrorism activities, nonproliferation activities, civil emergencies, air space management, crisis management, arms control and confidence building measures, search and air rescue activities, civil emergencies -- those kinds of things that are common to all 20 nations.
I hope that list will grow, grow significantly in the months ahead, as confidence is built up, as we understand how this council works, and as we have had some success with these initial items that we have decided upon.
With respect to NATO's responsibilities to its own members, members of NATO, Article 5 collective security arrangements, those kinds of issues, then obviously Russia would not be included, nor would Russia wish to be included. And Russia finds this arrangement, the NATO-Russia Council, to serve its security interest, and its interest in becoming a more active member of the Euro-Atlantic community. The NRC serves that purpose, and I don't think Russia is considering at the moment applying for membership in NATO. But I will let that question remain with my Russian colleagues.
Q: Two questions, if I may. Firstly, yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry reiterated its opposition to NATO enlargement. How is the Alliance going to react to this continuing opposition?
And, secondly, if I may ask you, how do you now characterize the war in Chechnya? Is that the final act of the Cold War, or a new front in the war against terrorism?
SECRETARY POWELL: With respect to the first one, I did see a statement that the Russian Foreign Ministry put out, saying that it continues to oppose enlargement of NATO. That does not surprise or shock me. It's been the Russian position for some time. But there is also no doubt that NATO will be inviting other nations to become members at the Prague summit, later this year.
As we have said all along, and as we've discussed with the Russians quite candidly, Russia cannot have a veto over who becomes a member of NATO or not. I also believe that because we have had this series of successes in dealing with Russia -- the NRC today, the treaty that the President signed a few days ago, the Treaty of Moscow, the political statement that the two Presidents signed in Moscow the other day, to go along with the treaty -- I think we have succeeded in making the enlargement of NATO once again less of a problem for the Russians, and less of an irritant in our relations. Russia knows that these invitations will be extended at Prague and, nonetheless, Russia is here today to participate in the signing of the NATO-Russia Council. And so I don't think it will be a major problem when the time comes to extend the invitations at Prague.
With respect to Chechnya, Chechnya is an area of enormous interest to the international community. Russia is fighting terrorists in Chechnya, there's no question about that, and we understand that. But at the same time, we believe that a political solution is really what Russia also needs to find a way to achieve. And we have always said to the Russians that in their prosecution of this campaign against terrorism, they have to make sure that the troops participating in it and other elements of the Russian armed forces and security forces have to meet the highest standards of human rights that one would expect from a civilized country.
And so that is what we discussed with the Russians. And in return, they let us know how serious they view this terrorist threat in their country.
Back to the Top Next Article
- Back to the Top -