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Moscow should not Presume Existence of Frozen Conflicts will Prevent NATO-membership of post-Soviet Countries : Russian Politician

Politics Materials 1 May 2007 14:16 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend A.Gasimova / Dmitri Treinin, deputy director of the Carnegie Moscow Center and a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment, stated that Georgia and Azerbaijan should not be grouped together on the membership at NATO.

In an interview with Trend in Washington, Treinin commented on the prospects of members of Georgia and Azerbaijan at NATO and Russia's possible reply. As in all other cases, this is in essence a matter between the alliance and the countries concerned. People talk about Georgia's membership as something that has to be discussed at this stage. Azerbaijan, at least for the time being, is not discussed in the same way.

According to the politician, both the elites and the public in Georgia support the idea of NATO membership. However, there is a question over making a country that does not fully control its own territory, a member and the implications of its admission. Does the membership mean that NATO needs to protect Georgian interests in Abkhazia and South Ossetia? If things go wrong what will be the obligation of the NATO countries towards Georgia? There are many questions and I have not seen a credible response to those questions. Russia does not have a veto over this issue and Russia should not think that the existence of the frozen conflicts will prevent Georgia seeking membership or necessarily prevent NATO countries from extending membership invitation to Georgia.

Azerbaijan is in a different situation and has been playing its cards more judiciously. On the surface, Azerbaijan has excellent relationship with both the US and Russia. Russia does not formally oppose Azerbaijan being a transit country for Caspian oil and gas. The Russian authorities do not enjoy this and they are not happy with it, however this is something that they can live with. In the past they were very critical of any suggestions that Azerbaijan may host the American forces or join NATO. Azeri leadership has a much more subtle approach on the NATO membership issue. The NATO membership is not as much an identity issue in Azerbaijan as it is in Georgia. In Georgia it is just an obsession, the privileged live with the notion that Georgia should be a NATO member. This is seen as a step to complete Georgia's Europeanism, in Azerbaijan this is not the case, he said.

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