NATO defence ministers will gather for an important meeting next week to discuss a new approach to relations with Russia as the ongoing war in Ukraine approaches its third year. The main topic will be the search for a new strategy to respond to the threats posed by Moscow. However, the task will not be easy, as there are divisions within the Alliance over how to engage with the Kremlin, with some countries wanting to maintain a softer approach to relations with Russia, Politico reports.
NATO’s relations with Moscow reached a critical level after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since then, the Kremlin has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons. In September 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a change in the country’s nuclear doctrine, according to which an attack on Russia by a non-nuclear state, with the support or participation of a nuclear power, would be considered a joint attack.
NATO has identified Russia as “the most significant and immediate threat to the security of the allies”, while the Kremlin continues to claim that NATO’s eastward expansion is a threat to its existence.
On Friday, a US government spokesman said that at the meeting, the ministers would try to outline the main elements of a new strategy for Russia and discuss the future of the 1997 Founding Act, which provided for NATO-Russia cooperation to “create a stable, peaceful and united Europe”.
Despite the desire to change its approach, NATO has not yet cancelled the document signed in 1997. There is also a structure called the NATO-Russia Council, which has not been functioning since the invasion of Ukraine. Relations between the two sides have deteriorated in recent years, starting with the war in Georgia in 2008 and the subsequent annexation of Crimea in 2014.
“We have to recognise that this act and the council were created for a different era,” said one NATO official. The discussions are being prepared for next summer’s NATO summit in The Hague, where a new strategy could be approved.
What might NATO’s new strategy towards Russia look like?
Currently, according to official sources, there is no clear draft of the new strategy, as the consultation process with all 32 NATO member states is still ongoing. The military implications of this political process are expected to be limited, as there is disagreement within the Alliance over how tough the new strategy should be. Some diplomats fear that an overly aggressive stance could destabilise Russia.
In addition, there are problems with the positions of Hungary and Slovakia, countries that sometimes do not support the consensus within NATO and continue to maintain contacts with the Kremlin.
