The NATO summit opens in Brussels today, the main themes of which will be the fight against terrorism and the implementation of the decisions taken at the NATO summit in Wales, including the goal of spending at least 2% of NATO member countries gross domestic product on defense. On the eve of the summit, US President Donald Trump, heading to the Belgian capital from Italy, reaffirmed "transatlantic unity in holding Russia accountable for its actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine", and noted the importance of "convincing Russia to fulfill its commitments under the Minsk Agreements".
The head of the European Security Department of the Institute of Europe at the Russian Academy of Sciences, professor at the Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs Dmitry Danilov, believes that the issue of cooperation with Russia will also be discussed in Brussels: "After the Tomahawk strike on Syria, Trump had every opportunity to quarrel with Russia. The situation on Ukraine is not simple as well ... Nevertheless, I am skeptical about the opportunities for the resumption of practical cooperation between Russia and NATO. As practice shows, such cooperation is possible only when there are positive changes in the Russian-US ties ... As soon as the project of consultations on missile defense stopped, Russia-NATO cooperation also stops immediately. It does not mean that we should not pay attention to NATO, a dialogue is necessary ... If it is achieved, then we can think about what to do with NATO in terms of reducing the risk of mutual military danger. "
According to the expert, a less manageable system with increasing military capabilities is a very serious topic: "When the Americans offered to restart relations, it was immediately relayed to the Russia-NATO level, new cooperation projects appeared. If today we want even minimal result, minimum effectiveness, it is necessary to unfreeze the relations To achieve practical cooperation in any form, it is necessary to establish consultations of specialized experts, including military experts. It is impossible to move forward without it. "
According to the program director of the Russian Council on International Affairs Ivan Timofeev, the problem of NATO is that it was created as an alliance of territorial defense for other purposes - to counter the Soviet Union and counter the Warsaw Treaty Organization afterwards, but not to fight terrorism and extremism, which are a fundamental threat.
"The cumbersome bureaucratic and military structure of NATO is useless in the fight against terrorism and extremism. They just have different modalities. Terrorists operate on a network principle, constantly adapting to the changing means of countering them, while NATO remains the organization of cold-war-era. In political terms, it is a good platform for expressing solidarity, for adopting political consolidating statements, but in practical terms, NATO's influence on the situation will be extremely limited. For example, NATO's role in the Syrian conflict is secondary".
