Cold War foes turn "partners" to defend security

Nato and Russian leaders forgot Cold War enmity yesterday and crowned the transformation in their relations since September 11 with a new council for cooperation on tasks from terrorism to arms control.

"Two former foes are now joined as partners, overcoming 50 years of division and a decade of uncertainty," US President George W. Bush told a summit of the Western defence alliance and its once-defining enemy.

The 20-nation meeting at a military airbase outside Rome was a triumphant climax for Bush`s European tour, whose centrepiece was the signing of a nuclear arms reduction accord with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The new Nato-Russia Council, which gives Moscow an equal voice on key security issues, was also a prize for Putin, who - despite critics at home - has reached out to the West since the September 11 hijacked airliner attacks on America.

"The significance of this meeting is difficult to over-estimate," Putin told leaders of the Western defence alliance at the inaugural meeting of the security body.

"Even only a very short time ago a meeting of this type, bringing together the leaders of Russia and Nato member states... would have been simply unthinkable."

But, in what was perhaps a veiled warning against possible US-led attacks on Iraq, Putin signalled that his pro-Western foreign policy did not give the alliance carte blanche for military action.

"It`s absolutely fundamentally important to understand that this cooperation at 20 must repose on the stable foundations of international law, the UN charter, the Helsinki Final Act and the European security charter."

Russia traditionally maintains that force can be used to intervene in world affairs only with the explicit approval of the UN Security Council, where it has the right of veto.

Putin also signalled that Russia would not abandon security bodies it has set up with 12 former Soviet states, collectively known as the Commonwealth of Independent States, and that Nato should also work with Asian regional bodies.

There was no mention of Nato`s plan for further expansion behind the old Iron Curtain. In a discordant reminder of the lingering suspicions among Putin`s political and military elite, Moscow had reiterated on the eve of the summit that the alliance`s eastward march was a "mistake".

Italy clamped a security shield on the sprawling Pratica di Mare military airbase south of Rome, fearing militants might target the first gathering of Nato leaders since September 11.

Hundreds of troops guarded the perimeter fence, helicopters and fighter jets patrolled the brilliant blue sky and, out at sea, a naval vessel imposed a 15-kilometres exclusion zone.

All Italian airlines and some foreign carriers suspended Rome operations to guard against possible hijackings.

The meeting was a public relations triumph for its charismatic host, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Ancient Roman statues from local museums brought a touch of historical gravitas to the military base. And as the leaders stood for a photo, air force jets roared overhead, leaving a red, white and green vapour trail to represent the Italian flag.

Inside, the leaders sat around a plush blue circular table, with Russia placed alphabetically between Portugal and Spain. Nato Secretary General George Robertson opened the summit, hailing the pact of nations from "Vancouver to Vladivostok" as a force to tackle their common enemy of global terrorism.

The Council of 20 will give Russia an equal voice, something it never had in the hapless "19-plus-one" Permanent Joint Council (PJC) which was established in 1997 partly to console Moscow for Nato`s first enlargement into the former Soviet bloc.

But either side will be able to take back any security issue from the new forum if there is no consensus. Issues removed from the forum by the Western members could still be debated among the 19 Nato allies, thus barring Russia from any veto over independent action on their part.

The declaration signed by the leaders committed them to cooperation on counter-terrorism, crisis management, non-proliferation, arms control and confidence-building measures, theatre missile defence, search and rescue at sea, military-to-military cooperation and defence reform, civilian emergencies and "new threats and challenges".