Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- Putin warns NATO expansion into Baltics "a mistake" Monday September 3, 8:03 PM http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010903/1/1e2je.html Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that expanding NATO to include the three small Baltic states once part of the Soviet Union would be a risky "mistake" serving no purpose other than to push the alliance up to Russia's border. "I underline that there are no objective conditions for enlarging and (for) the Baltic countries becoming members of NATO," Putin said at a news conference on Monday, following talks with Finnish President Tarja Halonen. "Pushing NATO's limits to Russia does not create a universal security in Europe, it does not solve any key issue in Europe," he said. Baltic state membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) "only pushes NATO borders closer to Russia." "We are not glad. This is a mistake." Putin, speaking through an interpreter, said the notion of admitting the Baltic states into NATO, and expansion of the alliance in general, was at odds with rhetoric from many capitals about building a peaceful and secure future for Europe. "In all points of the world, everybody is speaking about creating a good atmosphere in Europe," he said. "Does the enlargement of NATO support this tendency?" "Nobody is threatening anybody," Putin said. "Only some sick minds might find the idea that there are elements of attack or aggression by anybody in this region or from Russia." Putin said that Moscow respected the independence of the Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- and described their desire to become part of the NATO bloc as an exercise of their sovereign freedom of choice. But expansion of the Atlantic alliance into the Baltic states would resolve "no global problems or problems in European security," he said. Putin said the Kremlin supported Finland's traditional non-aligned status, which had made a "very important contribution" to stability in the Baltic Sea region, and added that he hoped Finland could serve as a "positive influence" on the Baltic states. Halonen by contrast offered a strong endorsement for the Baltic states' desire to join NATO. "My view is that the Baltic states will become full members of NATO," she said. "The question is not whether but when." Halonen was sharply criticized at home and in the region after she was quoted as saying early this year in the German weekly Der Speigel that Finland "could not support" Baltic state membership in NATO. Security experts here worry that NATO expansion to include the three Baltic states could revive Cold-War style tensions within the Baltic Sea region. While supporting the right of the Baltic states to choose NATO membership, Finland has emphasized the security benefits that all the states in the region could derive from joining the European Union. "European integration will improve the status of European values in all these countries," Halonen said. Copyright C 2001 AFP. ---------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
