NATO defense ministers will meet next week to start rethinking the alliance’s "decades-old policy" on Russia, media have cited an unnamed senior US government official as saying.
32 NATO members are now trying "to map out different elements of [the Russia] strategy and advance the debates inside the alliance" to take them to subjects like the future of the NATO-Russia Founding Act, according to the official. "It's time to now craft a new strategy in terms of [the allies'] specific positions," they pointed out.
"Right now, we have to have an understanding across the alliance ... that the [Founding Act] and the NATO-Russia Council were built for a different era, and I think the allies are prepared to say that was a different era in our relationship with Russia, and therefore something new is merited," the source said.
There's no draft of the new strategy yet, and the possible military implications of it are expected to be limited, the official noted, adding that some NATO countries are concerned that "a very aggressive new strategy could send a ‘signal’ that could destabilize Russia."
16 January 2022, 15:21 GMT
The NATO-Russia Founding Act, which was signed in 1997 and is still in force, stipulates a shared goal to "build a stable, peaceful and undivided Europe." The NATO-Russia Council (NRC) was established in 2002 to partner on security issues and joint projects. The NRC has not met since 2022.
NATO-Russia relations came to a standstill after the beginning of Moscow’s special military operation. NATO called Russia the "most significant and direct threat to allies’ security," while the Kremlin stressed that Moscow is not threatening anyone, but will not ignore actions that are potentially dangerous to its interests. President Vladimir Putin, for his part, warned that allowing the Kiev regime to use Western weapons system to strike Russian territory will effectively mean NATO's direct participation in a conflict against Russia.