beyondukraine.euandrussiainsearchofanewrelation

54 Beyond Ukraine. EU and Russia in Search of a New Relation
regular cooperation with NATO or in becoming a full member in
the absence of a radical transformation of the alliance 20 . Hence, the
NRC did not fulfil its initial promise and never became the
platform of discussion that was initially envisioned; rather, as
Trenin argued, it was “turned into a mostly technical workshop –
useful, but extremely narrow in scope” 21 . Cooperation between
NATO and Russia remained based largely on the personal
connection between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin –
displaying a responsive and pragmatic rather than a purposeful and
normative character – while the NRC failed to resolve the
underlying tensions of the post-Cold War settlement.
The return of tensions
and the failure of the ‘reset’ (2002-2012)
With the NRC failing to settle unresolved issues and to dissipate
reciprocal diffidence, un-defused tension between the alliance and
Moscow erupted in the early 2000s following Washington’s
withdrawal from the Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty in 2002,
NATO’s invitation at its Prague summit to seven new members,
including former Soviet republics of Latvia, Lithuania, and
Estonia, and open support for the Rose, Orange and Tulip
Revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, in 2003, 2004,
and 2005 respectively 22 . While offering use of its territory for
shipments of supplies to NATO forces deployed in Afghanistan
through the northern distribution network, Moscow responded to a
perceived Western encirclement by supporting Russian minorities
abroad and exerting economic and political pressure on nearby
20 J.A. Baker III, “Russia in NATO?”, The Washington Quarterly, Winter 2002, p. 95.
21 D. Trenin, “NATO and Russia: Partnership or Peril?”, Current History, vol. 108,
no. 720, October 2009, p. 300.
22 A. Kelin, “Attitude to NATO Expansion: Calmly Negative”, International Affairs,
Moscow, vol. 50, no. 1, 2004, pp. 17-25; C. Fairbanks, “Georgia’s Rose Revolution”,
Journal of Democracy, vol. 15, no. 2, April 2004, pp. 110-124.