MUNICH — Europe should replace its Cold-War-style security architecture with a comprehensive, integrated one with legally bindings, due to the individuality, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday in the annual Munich conference.
“In the last 20 years, European security has become weak in every aspects, concerning the erosion of arms control and emerging of serious conflicts,” Lavrov said. “Statements that everything is fine and nothing should be changed is not convincing.”
The Russian minister said after the end of the Cold War, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) missed a great opportunity of becoming an all-round organization of ” ensuring equal security for every state in the European region.”
“The choice was made in favor of NATO’s expansion policy, not only dividing Europe into zones with different levels but also moving these lines deliberately to the East,” he said. The members of NATO has increased to 28 in 2009 from the original 12 in 1949.
Lavrov said that since both the NATO and the OSCE failed to prevent tragedies such as hot conflicts in past decades, one lesson Europe has learned from history is not to neglect “the indivisibility of the security in the whole land of Europe.”
“We want to overcome the block approach of cold war in the European architecture and to ensure new policy of mutual trust,” he said. “No single state can ensure its security at the expense of others’.”
Russia supported the OSCE, rather than others, in “becoming a strong, efficient organization” with the joint efforts of Russia, the United States and other European countries, he said.
The Russian diplomat called for “a comprehensive solution” to set up a new security frames, which was emphasized by Kremlin since 2008. But some west countries suspect that it is mainly aimed at stopping further NATO expansions.
The OSCE, the world’s largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization, has 56 member states covering most of the northern hemisphere. It was first created as an East-West forum during the Cold War era, and puts its focus on conflict prevention, arms control, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation.
The 46th Munich Security Conference, one of the leading political forums in the world, invited around 300 high-ranking participants in discussing major global
challenges. “The Future of European Security” is the main topic on Saturday.
Editor: Mu Xuequan
