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NATO Country Cutoffs of Cooperation with Russia
4 April 2014
(LPAC)—At its Council Meeting in Brussels April 1, NATO adopted the following policy, embedded in a statement of condemnation of Russia for Crimea’s decision to join it: "We have decided to suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation between NATO and Russia. Our political dialogue in the NATO-Russia Council can continue, as necessary, at the Ambassadorial level and above, to allow us to exchange views, first and foremost on this crisis. We will review NATO’s relations with Russia at our next meeting in June." In the ensuing days, the following areas of cooperation have been reported to have been cut: * NASA cooperation, outside of the ISS, according to a "tweet" from NASA but confirmed by the State Department. * Discussions on the BMD * DoE-Rosatom cooperation, which includes the areas covered by the Sept. 2013 agreement signed between the U.S. and the Russian government, including cooperation between labs on new developments. Rosatom has responded by calling the step "wrong", and denouncing the politicization of nuclear energy collaboration. * Anti-drug cooperation in Afghanistan * Possibly a program of Russian training of pilots and repair for Russian helicopters used by the Afghan army. Areas which are reported not to have been cut are: * the International Space Station * Russian cooperation with NATO and the U.S. on supply routes into Afghanistan. * Syria chemical weapons eradication. * P5+1 Talks, which began the next round with a technical phase today—and convene formally on April 7. [Nancy B. Spannaus] |