Russia Agrees Nato Expansion

Nato and Russia on Wednesday agreed a historic pact signalling the Kremlins acceptance of the western military alliances planned eastward enlargement. Western and Russian leaders said the deal, which follows months of negotiations, will reassure Moscow that Nato expansion does not pose a threat while allowing the alliance to move into eastern Europe without making an enemy of the Kremlin.

Boris Yeltsin, the Russian President, said in a television interview that, while in the past the country had been concerned about the threat posed by Nato expansion, after the agreement had been signed this concern should go away.

He tacitly acknowledged that Moscow had won few real concessions, admitting that of course, as before, we say we are opposed to enlargement, but in view of certain historical realities, and regrettably practical realities they have gone too far and we have to reckon with that we need to minimise this threat...

 

He was speaking hours after agreement had been reached in two days of talks in Moscow between Javier Solana, the Nato secretary-general, and Yevgeny Primakov, the Russian foreign minister.

The two men embraced after making what a joint communiqu