The contribution of the international community to stabilizing the situation and to creating the conditions which would preclude a repetition of military adventures of the Georgian leadership must also consist in opening a discussion on ways to assure the security of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as provided by item 6 of the Moscow accord 

NATO has also failed so far to give new purpose to its existence. It is trying to find this purpose today by globalising its missions, including to the detriment of the UN’s prerogatives, which I mentioned just before, and by bringing in new members. But this is clearly still not the solution. There is talk of exchanging further NATO expansion to the east for ‘something else’, but I think this is just so many illusions. I think that in such a case our relations with NATO would be completely undermined, ruined for a long time to come. There will not be confrontation of course, but the price would nonetheless be high indeed and would cause serious damage.

Six years after its creation, the NATO-Russia Council has proven itself to be a key instrument for political dialogue, consensus-building, cooperation and joint decision-making by its 27 members acting in their national capacities and in a manner consistent with their collective commitments and obligations.  The Heads of State and Government of the NRC reaffirmed their determination to continue to work in this constructive spirit in the future to ensure the NRC fulfils its potential by identifying and pursuing opportunities for joint action on a wide range of security issues.

We recall that the NATO-Russia partnership was conceived as a strategic element in fostering security in the Euro-Atlantic area, based on core principles, values and commitments, including democracy, civil liberties and political pluralism.  Looking back at a history of more than a decade, we have developed a political dialogue as well as concrete projects in a broad range of international security issues where we have common goals and interests

I think it is obvious that NATO expansion does not have any relation with the modernisation of the Alliance itself or with ensuring security in Europe. On the contrary, it represents a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust. And we have the right to ask: against whom is this expansion intended? And what happened to the assurances our western partners made after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact? Where are those declarations today? No one even remembers them. 

We are determined to protect our populations from the terrorist threat by deterring and preventing terrorist acts, particularly those by terrorist groups operating internationally, through defensive measures used to reduce the vulnerability of forces, individuals and property to terrorism, to include limited response and containment by military forces and relevant specialised civil agencies – and we will work to improve our capabilities in this area

Concluding this constructive review of cooperative efforts underway in the NRC, we reiterated our determination to continue to intensify practical cooperation in each of these areas within the framework of the NATO-Russia Council. We further underscored our determination to continue and deepen the development of political dialogue in the NRC.

The NATO-Russia Council will provide a mechanism for consultation, consensus-building, cooperation, joint decision, and joint action for the member states of NATO and Russia on a wide spectrum of security issues in the Euro-Atlantic region. The NATO-Russia Council will serve as the principal structure and venue for advancing the relationship between NATO and Russia. It will operate on the principle of consensus.

This Act defines the goals and mechanism of consultation, cooperation, joint decision-making and joint action that will constitute the core of the mutual relations between NATO and Russia