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Medvedev: Europe's security not guaranteed by NATO and OSCE

Other News Materials 11 June 2008 14:45 (UTC +04:00)

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that Cold War-era military alliances could no longer guarantee Europe's security, news agency Interfax reported.

Speaking at a congress of Russian journalists, Medvedev said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had outlived their ability to guarantee European security, reported dpa.

"Do these organizations resolves security porblems on the European continent? In my opinion, no," Medvedev said Wednesday.

Kremlin officials are quick to remind that NATO is "a child of military conflict" and view with suspicion the alliance's readiness to expand eastward, butting up against Russia's borders.

NATO, in response to Russian pressure, deferred including post- Soviet Georgia and Ukraine in the alliance this year.

Medvedev has suggested that NATO's expansion is driven by a need to find a new mission and ideology with the end of the Cold War.

The new Russian president is "in favour of reducing the influence of international bodies founded on ideological principles" and replacing those with organizations that would pay more weight to emerging economic rebalance of powers, Renaissance Capital wrote in a note Monday..

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