Lavrov presents Russia's European security concept in Munich
14:3706/02/2010
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov presented on Saturday the country's concept of a European security treaty at an international conference in Munich.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed drawing up a new pan-European security pact in June 2008, and Russia published a draft of the treaty in late November 2009, sending copies to heads of state and international organizations, including NATO.
"We can hardly call normal the situation when the Euro-Atlantic military and political situation is far behind modern economic, technological, trade, investment and other processes... and is increasingly running counter to the call of the times," Lavrov said addressing the 46th Munich Security Conference.
The West has so far been lukewarm toward the Russian initiative. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen rebuffed Medvedev's project, saying it was not necessary.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko, and U.S. National Security Advisor James Jones are also taking part in the Munich conference.
Lavrov arrived in Germany on Friday on a visit to discuss Russian-German bilateral relations, European security, and nuclear arms cuts with his German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle.
MUNICH, February 6 (RIA Novosti)
