Romania's support for offering Georgia and Ukraine the Membership Action Plan aimed at joining NATO, on the occasion of the Alliance's summit in Bucharest, will not turn Russia hostile to Romania, Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu told the Antena 3 TV channel.
'Russia will not turn hostile for this matter. It is its duty to say it doesn't agree. What did it say in 1997? What did it say in 2002? Did it say something different? No. It said this thing any time a NATO enlargement took place. Russia is programmed to say this', Cioroianu said.
It is obvious Russia, based on its own geo-political calculations, believes that any enlargement getting NATO even closer to its borders is not beneficial, he added.
'Naturally, our duty, as the ones who represent this country, is to endlessly repeat (...) until what we say has an impact, that NATO is not turned against Russia' the minister stressed.
The Romanian foreign minister said he did not expect a Russian response beyond the diplomatic game, in the event that Ukraine and Georgia were granted the status of candidates to NATO membership.
'Russia is led by very intelligent, very pragmatic people, and those who have relations with Russia should be intelligent and pragmatic. In this respect, we uttered too many words sometimes', he said.
Cioroianu explained that, according to the negotiation methods used by Moscow, if Georgia and Ukraine are very important for the NATO partners, then Russia might ask for a greater flexibility on 'other hot spots on the map'.
Transdniester certainly is one of them, he added.
'I'm telling you Transdniester is on that map of hot spots, in the talks between the great powers', he stressed.
The minister said it is very likely to know very little time in advance whether President Putin would come to Bucharest, to take part in the NATO-Russia Council due on April 4. 'Whether he comes or not, it will send a signal either way. Russia's president, amid the current circumstances, wants to show his country has raised its forehead - this is President Putin's fundamental message. It is not about money, not only about money. Russia has always been a rich country, in (President Boris) Yeltsin's time as well, but it had had lowered its forehead then, in the wake of an ideological conflict that some people say it lost', Cioroianu said, adding the Russian side has already booked a hotel in eastern Bucharest.
(Source: Rompres)
