NATO-Russia talks aim to rebuild post-Georgia ties

By David Brunnstrom CORFU, Greece (Reuters) - NATO foreign ministers meet their Russia counterpart Saturday in their highest level contact since the Georgia war, hoping to launch a new program of cooperation on issues like Afghanistan and counter-terrorism.
Gathering on the Greek island of Corfu, many ministers will stay on for an informal European Union review of ties with Iran over its post-election crackdown on opposition protesters, and a session of Europe`s biggest security and human rights group to tackle Western-Russian tensions stoked by the Georgia conflict.
The meetings come a week before a summit between U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow, and a summit of Group of Eight powers in Rome.
The spate of diplomacy is aimed at mending ties torn by Russia`s crushing of a Georgian bid to retake a rebel region and U.S. plans for a missile shield on Russia`s doorstep, stirring a poisonous atmosphere reminiscent of the old Cold War.
"In the next 10 days we will have a level of interaction with Russia designed, one, to rebuild trust so that, two, we can deal with the challenges we all confront in a coordinated and cooperative manner," a senior U.S. official said.
"We are now willing to express our differences at the table, as opposed to shouting at each other from outside the room."
MILITARY COOPERATION
Dialogue between the 28 NATO states and Russia was suspended after the August, 2008 Georgia conflict, but has gradually resumed at lower level. An attempt to restore ministerial ties in May stumbled over NATO-led military exercises in Georgia, denounced by the Kremlin, and a tit-for-tat spy spat.
A climate for reconciliation slowly took shape since Obama took office, reversing his predecessor`s unilateralism. "All NRC (NATO-Russia Council) countries want to take forward military-to-military cooperation which has been on the backburner since last August, also cooperation with regard to counternarcotics in Afghanistan, joint training," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.
The U.S. official said NATO also hoped for cooperation with Russia in counterpiracy operations off Somalia and to extend, to a NATO level, bilateral talks on transit of military supplies to Afghanistan through Russian territory.
"I believe they are ready to resume a serious engagement between NATO and Russia and they will be ready if not to agree today at least shortly thereafter, at ambassadorial level, on a program of work on the way ahead for the NRC," he said.
After Saturday`s NATO-Russia Council session, the 56-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will assess ways to overcome Russian-Western differences regarding Georgia and a new "European security architecture" proposed by Medvedev.
Russia repelled Georgia`s attempt to wrest back separatist South Ossetia, and Russian troops remain in the area.
Moscow then blocked an OSCE consensus needed to extend its peace monitoring mission in Georgia past June 30, by demanding recognition of South Ossetian "independence," with a separate OSCE mission deployed there. Diplomats fear the OSCE`s imminent exit might lead to new fighting in Georgia.
(Additional reporting by Dina Kyriakidou and Ingrid Melander in Corfu; Writing by Mark Heinrich and Dominic Evans)
Original article