According to Annegret Kramp-Carrenbauer, the country has made it clear in NATO that there is a format for this dialogue
German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Carrenbauer said on Wednesday that she would welcome a dialogue between Russia and NATO on arms control.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, who is on a visit to the US, was speaking at a conference organised at the German Marshall Fund (an organisation recognised as undesirable in Russia) in Washington.
“I am wondering whether you think there is an opportunity for not only bilaterally for the US [and Russia], but also for the NATO countries themselves <…> to return to some kind of broader arms control discussion with Russia”, – the minister was asked.
“I would be very happy about this, because we see that it is not only about nuclear disarmament, but at the moment what we are facing from Russia is a significant build-up of conventional weapons”, – Kramp-Karrenbauer argued. She spoke in German, with an interpreter translating her words into English. – “We have made it clear in NATO that <…> there is a format for this [dialogue]. We have made it clear that we would like to come back [to discuss] this again. Unfortunately, this has not happened yet, but we think it is very important to resume this”, – the German defence minister added.
“A few weeks ago we observed a major exercise <…> it is not unusual, and there are certain procedures regarding informing each other and sending observers, which creates trust. However we have seen that the Russian side has not followed these procedures. <…> I guess we will have to expect a couple of smaller [-scale] provocations in the future”, – Kramp-Karrenbauer argued.
In early June, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg claimed that the North Atlantic Alliance was currently in contact with Russia with a view to convening a NATO-Russia Council (NRC) meeting at ambassadorial level. The Secretary General stressed that NATO considered it necessary to continue dialogue with Russia in order to ensure predictability in relations. German Cabinet spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer later said Berlin welcomed Stoltenberg’s proposal. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier wrote in her Telegram channel that Russia was ready to discuss de-escalation and incident prevention with the North Atlantic Alliance, but without the involvement of military experts this dialogue would be meaningless. This was her response to Secretary General Stoltenberg’s earlier statement that Russia had not responded to the Alliance’s proposal to hold an NRC meeting.
NATO on its own initiative interrupted almost all lines of engagement with Russia in the spring of 2014 after Crimea’s reunification with Russia. NATO-Russia Council meetings at ambassadorial level, which had previously taken place several times a month, were held several times a year, and in 2020 were not held at all.