Russia On Equal Security Opportunities For European States

Russia stands up for equal security opportunities for all European states regardless of whether they belong or don't belong to military-and-political blocs, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov told the audience at the Royal Higher Military Institute in Brussels on Wednesday. According to the minister, Russia deems it necessary to reduce the role of military potential in the collective security system of the European continent and enhance the preventive and stabilizing role of the international political potential. Europe must work out its own anti-crisis strategy and be more active whilst creating subregional zones of trust and stability, said Ivanov. Russia believes that "none of the existing structures, European or Euroatlantic alike, is capable of assuming full responsibility for the entire set of current European problems," he added. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe is perhaps closer to solving these tasks than the rest, went on Ivanov. Its potential could be added to those of Euroatlantic organisations that have a "narrower zone of responsibility," namely to the European Union, the Council of Europe, NATO and the Commonwealth of Independent States. This does not mean they must be subordinate to the OSCE; all these organisations must cooperate and coordinate the activity of their security institutes, stressed Ivanov.