By RIA Novosti,
Berlin : Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called for a legally binding European security treaty to be signed at an all-European conference.
“I am convinced that without addressing all of our concerns in a frank and fair way, we will be unable to make any headway in building a greater Europe,” he said Thursday, speaking in Berlin after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during his first European trip since being sworn into office May 7.
He also added that “organisations operating in the Euro-Atlantic region” could also join the new security arrangement based on “pure” national interests, not skewed by ideological motives.
The president said that without cuts in military spending it would be impossible to raise sufficient resources to deal with such global challenges as climate change, illegal migration, and global poverty.
He also said that NATO’s further eastward expansion would harm the bloc’s relations with Russia, but there would be no confrontation.
Medvedev urged NATO to halt its enlargement and missile defence plans in Europe, insisting that it was critical to break “the vicious circle of unilateral actions”.
He also said earlier Thursday that Russia was alarmed by “narrowing trends of mutual understanding in Euro-Atlantic policies.”
Russia and the European Union are planning to start talks on a new wide-reaching strategic partnership agreement at a summit later this month.