beyondukraine.euandrussiainsearchofanewrelation
beyondukraine.euandrussiainsearchofanewrelation
beyondukraine.euandrussiainsearchofanewrelation
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After Maidan: Re-Starting NATO-Russia Relations 51<br />
allowed for the participation of Russian forces in the KFOR<br />
(Kosovo Force) mission, an escalation of the crisis was barely<br />
avoided when Russian troops suddenly gained control of Pristina<br />
airport in June 1999 ahead of the alliance 9 . While the airport<br />
standoff was emblematic of the schizophrenic character of NATO-<br />
Russia relations – with Moscow cooperating with the alliance after<br />
supporting the Milosevic regime – the terrorist attacks of 11<br />
September 2001, shifting Western security concerns outside of the<br />
Euro-Atlantic area, temporarily strengthened NATO’s incentive to<br />
cooperate with Moscow and to give it an institutional character 10 .<br />
The Kremlin, too, had its own reasons for deepening relations with<br />
the alliance. Two costly counterinsurgency campaigns in<br />
Chechnya, continuing instability along its Caucasian and Central<br />
Asian borders, and Russia’s own experiences with Islamic<br />
terrorism – particularly the wave of attacks on major Russian<br />
cities that began in 2002 and culminated in the Beslan school<br />
hostage crisis in 2004 – reinforced Moscow’s interest in<br />
cooperation with NATO 11 . While continuing to antagonize the<br />
alliance, Russia displayed a readiness to cooperate in areas of<br />
mutual interest and sought legitimacy for counter-insurgency<br />
operations in the Caucasus: although remaining wary of NATO’s<br />
open door policy, the Kremlin allowed American forces to use<br />
Russian air space for operations in Afghanistan and tolerated the<br />
creation of U.S. bases in Central Asia. In May 2002, following<br />
President Vladimir Putin’s visit in November 2001 to Washington<br />
and Crawford, Russia was rewarded with formal association with<br />
the alliance through the signing of the Pratica di Mare agreements,<br />
which established the NATO-Russia Council (NRC). The NRC<br />
replaced the PJC, envisaging a mechanism for consultation,<br />
consensus-building, cooperation, joint decision and action, where<br />
9 R. Brannon, Russian Civil-Military Relations, Burlington, Ashgate, 2009, pp. 73-98.<br />
10 L. Ratti, “NATO-Russia Relations after 9/11: New Challenges, Old Issues”, in E.<br />
Hallams, L. Ratti, B. Zyla (eds.), NATO beyond 9/11: The Transformation of the Atlantic<br />
Alliance, Basingstoke, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, p. 259.<br />
11 D. Lynch, “‘The enemy is at the gate’: Russia after Beslan”, International Affairs,<br />
vol. 81, no. 1, January 2005, p. 141.