WASHINGTON,The United States and some of its NATO allies see Russia's intervention in Ukraine as a post-Cold War turning point, possibly ending two decades of hope that Moscow could be made a lasting security partner.NATO's deputy secretary general, Alexander Vershbow, said Thursday that the alliance is compelled to view Russia as an adversary in light of its annexation of Crimea and its apparent efforts to further destabilize eastern Ukraine.Vershbow, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO and onetime Pentagon official, said Russia's interventionist stance of late poses "grave challenges" to global security arrangements that have developed since the end of World War II.
"What
the Russians have done ... is effectively overturned a lot of the pillars of
the international security system that we've come to know and be comfortable
with," he said.With the Ukraine crisis and NATO's deteriorating relations
with Moscow as a backdrop, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was to deliver a
speech Friday on the future of the Western alliance and how it can maintain its
relevance.Hagel was expected to argue that the crisis in Ukraine represents a
"coalescing moment" for the alliance that should be used to improve
NATO defense capabilities, according to an official familiar with his speech
preparation.Fear of Russian aggression is most acute among newer NATO members
such as Poland and other Eastern European states that once were part of the
Soviet sphere of influence but chose to join the Western alliance after the
breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Some older NATO members in Europe are less
alarmed and see less urgency in trying to punish Moscow for its moves in
Ukraine.
In
his speech, Hagel also was expected to draw linkages between military security
and economic security, in Europe and more broadly, the official said. The
official spoke on condition of anonymity because the remarks were still being
prepared.Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said
Thursday that after a recent trip to Ukraine he believes Washington needs to
stiffen its support for the Ukrainian government in its confrontation with
Moscow.
"Russia's
effort to dismember their country through the threat of force, if allowed to
succeed, could undermine decades of stability and a peaceful, democratic and
united Europe," Levin, D-Mich., said.In his remarks to reporters Thursday,
Vershbow said Russia now is a NATO adversary."Clearly the Russians have
declared NATO as an adversary, so we have to begin to view Russia no longer as
a partner but as more of an adversary than a partner," he said.
"In
central Europe, clearly we have two different visions of what European security
should be like," Vershbow said. "We still would defend the
sovereignty and freedom of choice of Russia's neighbors, and Russia clearly is
trying to reimpose hegemony and limit their sovereignty under the guise of a
defense of the Russian world."In April, NATO suspended all "practical
civilian and military cooperation" with Russia, although Russia has
maintained a diplomatic mission to NATO it established in 1998.NATO, created 65
years ago as a bulwark against the former Soviet Union, is considerinag new
defensive measures aimed at deterring Russia from any aggression against NATO
members along its border, such as the Baltic states that once were part of the
Soviet Union, Vershbow said.
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