Lavrov Denounces Interventionism, Wants Clarity from NATO

February 3, 2013 • 9:43AM

The two main positive aspects of the morning panel of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) were remarks by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whereas the other speeches, given by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, European Council Vice President Catherine Ashton and NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen, were propaganda and papering over of existing differences with Russia and China. The differences became most visible in Biden's announcement during his speech that in the afternoon, he would meet with the Syrian opposition, and that Assad was no longer fit to govern Syria.

Lavrov began by saying that 70 years after the battle of Stalingrad (MSC Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger had mentioned that earlier), the lesson is that another world war must be prevented, and that it must be done through the United Nations. Lavrov then spoke in a tough, although still diplomatic way, saying that neither he nor the others at this conference were there to compliment each other, but to produce clarity on many unanswered questions: there was no place for such things as NATO-centrism, what use is the NATO expansion; that there cannot be any military interventions outside of the UN Security Council (UNSC) mandate; no unilateral sanctions; that certain divides and confrontationism in the OECD have to stop; the missile defense issue remains unresolved although Russia has made offers; simplistic interpretations of the Arab spring have to stop; and instead of pushing for "smart defense," Europe, which is no longer exposed to any threat, should rather develop a "new smart foreign policy." Lavrov said that the many lofty declarations finally have to be followed by deeds. Violence has to be stopped not by force, but by inclusive dialogue, Lavrov said, also denouncing once again the western attitude to the Israeli air raid into Syria. He also referred, without further detail, to the Ischinger-Ivanov-Nunn initiative for NATO-Russia cooperation.

Before the morning panel began, Jane Margaret Harman of the Woodrow Wilson Center gave the introduction to the award-giving by the MSC to U.S. Senators Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn, stressing very much the tradition of dialogue between the U.S. and Russia, which both stand for, which she herself worked for from her time as Senate staffer in the 1970s on. Sam Nunn then took the microphone, paying tribute to all those, particularly also the many unnamed individuals on the Russian side, who made sure that no weapon of mass destruction came into the hands of dangerous people or terrorists after 1991, that the work he and Igor Ivanov have done to provide a platform for U.S.-Russian dialogue and cooperation is important, that they (and Nunn) are to publish a new paper some weeks from now. Nunn stressed the importance of continued work to finally move from MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) to MAS (Mutually Assured Security). Ischinger by the way also paid tribute to the good cooperation between himself and Lavrov, then UN ambassador of Russia, during in the Balkans crises in the 1990s.