significant developments that followed the end of the Cold War in 1989

Question 1

Breakup of the USSR

Answer 1

Background to formation of USSR
* Lenin wanted to strengthen the links between the various SSRs
* On 10 August 1922, a committee chaired by Stalin, was formed to draw up a plan for a federal State
* The plan, presented on 10 September 1922, proposed that the SSRs should be absorbed into the RSFSR
* The republics were not at all in favour of this approach
* Lenin took into account the view of the various SSRs and on 13 December 1922, agreed to the adoption of the Constitution of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, comprising the Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
* On 30 December 1922, the first Congress of Soviets created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics by adopting the Treaty and Declaration of Union between the four republics – RSFSR, SSRs of Ukraine and Belarus and SFSR of Transcaucasia
* The RSFSR did not absorb the other constituent parts and each republic kept its own constitution
* A year later, the Treaty and Declaration of Union were replaces by the second Constitution of the Soviet Union, the Lenin-Trotsky Constitution and was ratified by the second Congress of Soviets on 31 January 1924
* The Lenin-Trotsky Constitution of 1924 enshrined the union of sovereign nations with equal rights
* During the 1920s many territorial changes occurred with borders being redrawn
* Three new republics were created, the SSRs of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
* The third Soviet Constitution, adopted on 5 December 1936, and known as the Stalin Constitution, redefined federal bodies and the government of the USSR, giving Moscow greater power over the other SSRs - the interests of the USSR increasingly merged with those of the RFSFR
* The TSFSR was disbanded and Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan were integrated directly into the USSR in the form of SSRs
* Two new republics were also formed, the SSRs of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
* In 1940, other SSRs were formed by incorporating Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
* In 1940, the Autonomous SSR of Moldavia (12 Oct 1924 within the SSR of Ukraine) was converted into the SSR of Moldavia becoming a federal entity of the USSR
* The 15 republics remained part of the USSR until its collapse in 1991

Problems and crises facing the USSR
* Ongoing problems which had a major drain on the economy included:
o Massive expenditure on armaments during Cold War
o Maintaining large armies in Eastern Europe
o COMECON economies were heavily subsidised
* In 1949, in response to the Marshall Plan, Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) was established where members attempt to coordinate economic activities of mutual interest and to develop multilateral economic, scientific and technical cooperation
* As a result the economy of the USSR stagnated and communism began to lose its appeal for many
* The reforms and policies by new General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (1985 to 1991) had various impacts:
o Glasnost – ‘openness’ which encouraged open debate of economic and political issues
 Encouraged popular involvement in government through more openness and more freedom of expression (the idea of giving communism a human face)
 Soviet citizens were encouraged to voice their criticisms and debate reform without fear of reprisals - designed to give people confidence and replace ‘fear’ with ‘trust’
o Led to Chernobyl receiving major international publicity and the USSR’s failure in the Afghanistan war
o Investigative journalism exposed the corruption of the Communist Party
o Perestroika – ‘restructuring’
 Restructuring the faltering economy through increased trade with the West and a liberalisation of the command economy
 Making the economy more efficient by giving managers more freedom to make decisions and workers more incentives
o Impact of Glasnost and Perestroika in the period 1988-89
 Political organisation established called Democratic Union (the first opposition group)
 Books by dissidents (a person who opposes official policy) published
 Religion was tolerated and churches, mosques and synagogues were reopened
 Religious texts and books were openly on sale
 Called first elections in March 1989
 The USSR Congress of People’s Deputies elected (first session May 1989) in what were the first contested national elections organised by the Communists (not a parliament but had freedom to debate and criticise the government’s policies)
 February 1990 cancellation of Article 6 of the Soviet Constitution
* Article 6. The leading and guiding force of the Soviet society and the nucleus of its political system, of all state organisations and public organisations, is the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The CPSU exists for the people and serves the people.
* This meant that party officials now had to have backing of over 50% of electorate to remain in office
* In 1990 Gorbachev was elected first executive President of the USSR but he had little real power
* Power instead was passing into the hands of others such as Boris Yeltsin
* In Russia elections took place to the Russian Federation Congress of People’s Deputies in March and April 1990 and gave a majority to reformers
o Gorbachev’s rival, Boris Yeltsin, was elected President (Yeltsin’s election as President of the RSFSR in June was widely interpreted as giving him greater legitimacy than Gorbachev who had been elevated to the presidency of the USSR not by popular vote but by the Congress of People’s Deputies)
o On 12 June the Congress declared that Russia was a sovereign state and that its laws took precedence over those made by the overall union
* By 1989 it was clear that perestroika had not managed to resolve the country’s economic difficulties
* Gorbachev would not accept the radical solution of a transition to a market economy and his policies did not produce improvements in the rate of growth or consumption
* Gorbachev continued to be opposed to radical reform
o Budget revenue declined
 By 1989 the state deficit was 100 billion roubles (which meant expenditure was over revenue)
o Inflation rose
 Led to growing shortage of goods and a fall in living standards
* Gorbachev did not foresee that dissatisfaction with communism and Soviet rule would spread to the republics of the USSR
* There was a reawakening of nationalism in the Baltic States, Transcaucasian and Central Asian Republics and the Western Republics who had felt dominated by ethnic Russians
* The collapse of the economy left little incentive to remain within the USSR
* Initially Gorbachev reacted strongly and imposed an economic blockade and troops entered three states (on a pretext) but encountered massive public demonstrations and were forced to withdraw
* The violence only served to strengthen the determination of the nationalists to gain independence from Moscow and an end to Soviet domination
* In allowing open elections and a multi-party state Gorbachev released unstoppable forces of nationalism
* Once independent, many republics turned their back on Communism and its ideas
* The declarations of independence of some of the republics prompted Gorbachev to create a draft of the new Union Treaty in November 1990
* The disintegration of the Soviet Union began on the peripheries, in the non-Russian areas
* The first region to produce mass, organized dissent was the Baltic region, where, in 1987, the government of Estonia demanded autonomy
* This move was later followed by similar moves in Lithuania and Latvia, the other two Baltic republics.
* The nationalist movements in the Baltics constituted a strong challenge to Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost
* He did not want to crack down too severely on the participants in these movements, yet at the same time, it became increasingly evident that allowing them to run their course would spell disaster for the Soviet Union, which would completely collapse if all of the periphery republics were to demand independence
o He imposed an economic blockade on Lithuania in April 1990
o In January 1991 Soviet troops entered all three Baltic states on the pretext of searching for military deserters
o In Vilnius, Lithuania, they seized the radio and television centre, killing 13 civilians, but after encountering massive public demonstrations, they were forced to withdraw
o The violence only served to strengthen the determination of the nationalists to gain independence
* After the initiative from Estonia, similar movements sprang up all over the former Soviet Union
* Once this ‘Pandora’s box’ had been opened, nationalist movements emerged in Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Byelorussia, and the Central Asian republics
* The power of the Central Government was considerably weakened by these movements; they could no longer rely on the cooperation of Government figures in the republics
* In March 1991 a two month long coal miner strike took place which was precipitated by inflation that had all but wiped out previous wage increases, was both a reflection of and a further impetus to the decline of the Soviet ‘centre’
* In March 1991, a referendum was held on the question of creating a new union formed by the former members of the USSR
o Soviet citizens were asked whether they supported the creation of a ‘renewed federation of equal sovereign republics’
 The referendum was boycotted by the Baltic republics, Moldavia, Georgia and Armenia, but was supported by 74% in the other republics
* However, Gorbachev continued to face opposition from:
o The communists in the army
o The Party
o The KGB (state security committee whose main duties were to gather intelligence in other nations, conduct counterintelligence, maintain the secret police, the KGB military corps and the border guards, suppress internal resistance, and conduct electronic espionage. The KGB also enforced Soviet morals and promoted Soviet ideology with propaganda. The agents in this department made sure that only the information that should be allowed in public was released)
o Reformers led by Boris Yeltsin
* On 18 August, two days before the Union Treaty was to come into effect, leading communists, who were opposed to change, made one last attempt to save the old USSR and launched a coup in Moscow
o There was no public backing for the rebels and the coup collapsed
o Yeltsin played a key role in rallying the crowds in Moscow against the coup and was able to emerge as the saviour of the new Russia (Gorbachev was under house arrest at his dacha as he had been on holidays at the time)
o Yeltsin suspended The Communist Party throughout Russia
* The nine republics that had agreed to the treaty now refused to implement it
* In December 1991 the Ukraine, Russia and Belarus established the Commonwealth of Independent States (a loose agency without a parliament or presidency which formed an agreed common policy for foreign affairs and defence) which was then joined on 21 December 1991 by eight additional former Soviet Republics
* On 25 December 1991 Gorbachev resigned announcing “The old system fell apart before the new one began to work”
* On 31 December the USSR ceased to exist

Question 2

Reunification of Germany

Answer 2

• There was growing unrest in the GDR:
  o Economy was suffering and only loans from the West saved it from bankruptcy
  o East Germans began to demand greater freedom of movement
• Gorbachev advised GDR Communist leader Erich Honecker to follow example of Poles and Hungarians
• In 1989, an impetus for reform swept across Eastern Europe and fed new hopes within Germany for an end to the divided state
• Gorbachev was not prepared to help Honecker resist the growing mood for change with repression
• Protests for the removal of Honecker increased and he resigned in October 1989
• After Hungary opened its borders, East Germans travelled through that state and into West Germany, leading to a substantial population loss for the German Democratic Republic
• On 4 November half a million East Germans congregated in East Berlin to demand reform and right to travel abroad
• Meanwhile, mass demonstrations calling for reforms and freedom of travel went unchecked by the Soviet and East German militaries, culminating in the decision to open travel between the East and West on November 9, 1989
• Hordes of East German citizens began to break through the Berlin Wall (supposed to take place on 10th but the border guards opened up the crossing points through the wall)
• Although the German people pushed for immediate reunification, other governments expressed deep concern about the security implications of a return of a strong, unified German Republic to Europe
• The four powers (US, USSR, Britain and France) that had engaged in the postwar occupation of Germany expressed varying degrees of apprehension, although the United States was relatively quick to overcome its objections and support the Bonn Government
• For Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, however, the wounds inflicted on their countries by the First and Second World Wars were not so easily forgotten
• All three states required reassurances that a reunited and remilitarized Germany would not pose a threat
• The collapse of the Warsaw Pact in Eastern Europe also saw the balance of power in Europe undergo a massive change
• Most of the international concern over a united Germany came from:
  o French President Francois Mitterrand
  o British PM Margaret Thatcher
  (In a confidential conversation to Gorbachev, Thatcher said: “Britain and Western Europe are not interested in the unification of Germany. The words written in the NATO communiqué may sound different, but disregard them. We do not want the unification of Germany. It would lead to changes in the post-war borders, and we cannot allow that because such a development would undermine the stability of the entire international situation, and could lead to threats to our security”)
• However, by mid-January 1990, Mitterrand had come to terms with the pending reunification, which he viewed as an unstoppable process
• British Foreign Ministry diplomats were considerably more farsighted than Thatcher, who was led by her gut reaction against Germany
• The ‘Iron Lady’ (Thatcher) gradually gave up her resistance to reunification
• The fact that France, the Soviet Union and the United States supported German reunification also had an impact on her stance
• This led to the Two-Plus-Four Talks (involved the two Germanys and four occupying powers)
  o One of the most difficult questions facing the negotiators was the question of the German relationship to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after reunification
  o The United States was anxious to ensure German involvement, which would provide an avenue for continued U.S. engagement in Western Europe and ideally keep a united Germany from pursuing expansionist goals
  o At first, Gorbachev opposed German membership in NATO. However, as German Reunification began to appear inevitable in mid-1990, he eventually agreed to a compromise in which the unified state would become a member of NATO, but would also agree to sharp reductions in the size of its combined military forces and to refrain from engaging in military exercises in eastern Germany
  o These conclusions, along with a German commitment to refrain from developing weapons of mass destruction and to respect the border with Poland (established after the Second World War and codified in the 1975 Helsinki Final Act), proved sufficient for the Soviet Union and the rest of Europe to accept the reunification of Germany
• The Two-Plus-Four Treaty (or Final Settlement Treaty) was signed on 12 September 1990 in Moscow
• The Treaty included:
  o Ending the partition of Germany
  o Terminated the residual rights of the former occupying powers in Germany
  o Committed the New Germany to recognising the Oder-Neisse border with Poland
• The reunification of Germany occurred at Midnight 2 October 1990 (3 October 1990)
• East Germany officially joined the Federal Republic of Germany in the West, ending 45 years of division and dissolving the communist German Democratic Republic
• Helmut Kohl (CDU) continued as Chancellor (in a coalition with Free Democratic Party) and President Richard von Weizsäcker
• The Treaty also marked the end of special status for Germany and Berlin under Four Power control, and the process of troop withdrawal began
• The first all-German elections since 1933 were held on December 2, 1990

Question 3

Dissolution of Warsaw Pact

Answer 3

• On February 25, 1991, the foreign and defence ministers of the countries of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation met to close down the pact
• Formed in response to West Germany’s admission into NATO in 1955 – ironically, the only invasions ever launched by the Warsaw Pact were directed against its own members (Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968)
• Serving as a prop for the unpopular Communist regimes of Eastern Europe, and enjoying little to no popular support in those countries, the treaties became increasingly obsolete once non-Communists came to power
• Weakened first by the Solidarity Movement and eventual free elections in Poland; the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989; the deposition of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, and of Bulgarian Communist leader Todor Zhivkov; and the bloody fall of Nicolae Ceaucescu in Romania; the web of international relations simply no longer existed
• It was officially dissolved on the 1 July 1991

Question 4

The resultant changes (of the breakup of the Soviet Union) in the politics and economics of the Soviet Union

Answer 4

• With the breakup of the Soviet Union and the end of communism, millions of citizens found themselves living under new political and economic systems
• No one had any experience of capitalism and many people abused the system
• There was:
  o Widespread corruption
  o Absenteeism
  o Drug abuse
  o Widespread organised crime
  o Poverty
  o Food shortages
  o Consumer goods shortages
  o Fierce nationalism in many republics
  o Armed intervention by Russian troops
• As well as holding the new Russian Federation together, Yeltsin set himself the aims of:
  o Introduce a Western-style market-style economy
  o Introduce democracy into the newly independent republics
• In 1992 Mr Yeltsin took on board a group of young economists and gave them a free hand in reforming the country’s economy
• Their first step, something that many Russians still recall with dread, was to abandon price controls and open the market for everyone
• The policy immediately sparked galloping inflation, and as prices soared the gap between haves and have-nots widened
• The gap became a chasm when Mr Yeltsin started the privatisation of the state property – everything from state-owned small shops to large factories was sold off
• Still, those reforms also laid the foundation for future economic developments, which ultimately gave the country something it had not enjoyed for many years: economic freedom
• The Russians had to learn quickly, as their vocabulary expanded to embrace new words such as marketing, advertising and exchange rates; or barter, leasing and – not least – profits
• Those who were unable to adapt quickly suffered
• The disparity of wealth sparked a powerful revival of the Communists
• In 1995, they led the polls and the demise of Yeltsin looked imminent
• He succumbed to the pressure of a dozen bankers and promised them a hefty prize for their financial support
• Those bankers, known as “oligarchs”, provided the state with loans, taking oil and metal shares as collateral
• Soon they became the owners of some of Russia’s most profitable assets, which made them the de facto rulers of the country
• In 1997, Russia’s economy started to grow for the first time in a decade. “You never had it so good,” was the message of the day
• But the day was short – sliding oil prices, rising state borrowing and the currency crisis which gripped the Asia-Pacific region led to economic collapse in 1998
• Yeltsin strongly believed in a liberal market orthodoxy: respect for private property, concern about inflation and an emphasis on a strong currency
• Under President Vladimir Putin, the Russian state has clawed back power from the oligarchs, and business people’s influence with regards to how the government implements economic policy or with regards to new laws being introduced has diminished sharply
• Inflation is low and economic growth is strong, yet new imbalances are emerging and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening still
• Equally polarised are the views of the Russian people when it comes to Mr Yeltsin’s achievements
• One recent poll found that about half the population blamed him for the collapse of the Soviet Union and the hardship of the past decade
• The other half, however, said it was Mr Yeltsin who had built the foundation for Russia’s prosperous development.
• Yeltsin was also faced with extreme nationalism and his choices seemed at odds with his aim to democratise the Federation E.g. Chechnya (which showed Yeltsin’s ruthless streak)
  o In 1994, Chechen armed separatists launched a military-style campaign designed to drive Russia out of Chechnya, part of the Russian Federation
  o The Chechens claimed to be fighting for freedom from an oppressive regime that prevented them from practicing their religion, Islam, and that offered no hope for the future
  o The Russian military used its weapons against civilians, killing more than 10,000 and displacing 500,000 from their homes
  o A peace treaty was reached in 1997, but fighting resumed between Russian troops and Chechens in the fall of 1999
  o Russian President Putin defended Russian military action in Chechnya, claiming that Chechnya was being used as a springboard for international terrorism against Russia
  o In August 1999, Islamic rebels from Chechnya invaded the region of Dagestan in southern Russia
  o The Russian government claimed that foreign Islamic terrorists were fighting alongside the Chechens
  o In addition, the Russian government blamed the Chechen rebels for a series of September 1999 bombings of Moscow apartment buildings that killed several hundred Russians
  o These incidents provoked a strong military response from Moscow, including airstrikes against several Chechen towns and the capital of Grozny

Question 5

Commonwealth of Independent States

Answer 5

• Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a free association of sovereign states formed in 1991 by Russia and 11 other republics that were formerly part of the Soviet Union
• The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had its origins on December 8, 1991, when the elected leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (Belorussia) signed an agreement forming a new association to replace the crumbling Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
• The three Slavic republics were subsequently joined by the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, by the Transcaucasian republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, and by Moldova
• The remaining former Soviet republics—Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia—declined to join the new organization
• The CIS formally came into being on December 21, 1991, and began operations the following month, with the city of Minsk in Belarus designated as its administrative centre
• In August 2008, following an escalation of hostilities between Russia and Georgia over the separatist region of South Ossetia, Georgia announced its intention to withdraw from the CIS (the withdrawal was finalised in August 2009)
• The CIS’s functions are to coordinate its members’ policies regarding their economies, foreign relations, defence, immigration policies, environmental protection, and law enforcement
• Its top governmental body is a council composed of the member republics’ heads of state (i.e., presidents) and of government (prime ministers), who are assisted by committees of republic cabinet ministers in key areas such as economics and defence
• The CIS’s members pledged to keep both their armed forces and the former Soviet nuclear weapons stationed on their territories under a single unified command
• In practice this proved difficult, however, as did the members’ efforts to coordinate the introduction of market-type mechanisms and private ownership into their respective economies

Question 6

Break-up of the former Yugoslavia

Answer 6

• Yugoslavia was first formed as a kingdom in 1918 and then recreated as a socialist state in 1945 after the Axis powers were defeated in World War II
• The constitution established six constituent republics in the federation: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Serbia also had two autonomous provinces: Kosovo and Vojvodina
• The disintegration of Yugoslavia took place as the Cold War was winding down, resulted from a breakdown of the nation-building of Marshal Josip Broz Tito, the wartime guerrilla leader who ruled Yugoslavia from 1945 until his death in 1980
• Tito was dedicated to a global communist ideal that transcended individual ethnic nationalism
• He also shrewdly recognized the threat to Yugoslavian unity posed by a strong Serbia, the largest of the country’s republics. When piecing together post-World War II Yugoslavia, Tito deliberately divided Serbia into two non-contiguous provinces - Vojvodina in the north and Kosovo in the south
• After Tito’s death in 1980 there were three major fundamental problems:
  1. The divergent ethnic interests
  2. The economy was inefficient
  3. The country’s institutional structure was incapable of retaining Yugoslav unity
• The breakup of Yugoslavia thus threw ethnic groups back on themselves
• Yugoslavs lacked democratic tradition (and civic nationalism – which is shared citizenship in a liberal-democratic state)
• Yugoslavs turned to ethnic nationalism as a ‘bond’ and experienced a ‘return of the repressed’
• Nationalism had once again replaced communism as the dominant force in the Balkans
• Former party officials manipulated ethnic differences to stay in power
• Ethnic minorities were pitted against majorities in different areas
• Each group wanted its own ethnic state as a buffer to protect against ethnic others and began re-carving territory to achieve it (also through ‘ethnic cleansing’)
• Fear of violence, need for protection & security drove the process (and the re-emergence of warlords - a leader able to exercise military, economic, and political control over a subnational territory within a sovereign state due to his or her ability to mobilise armed forces loyal to him or her)
• Richard Holbrooke (US Diplomat and chief architect of the Dayton Peace Accords), “Yugoslavia’s tragedy was not foreordained. It was the product of bad, even criminal, political leaders who encouraged ethnic confrontation for personal, political and financial gain. Rather than tackle the concrete problems of governance in the post-Tito era, they led their people into war”
• Most historians and political scientists agree that the war in the region was not about ancient hatreds nor was it a religious war
• Melanie C. Greenberg, author “The most compelling theory of the conflict, however, emphasises the central role played by the personal and nationalist ambition of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman
• US academic Lenard Cohen:
  o “During the 1980s Yugoslavia was beset by an economic and political crisis that seriously destabilised the country and eventually impaired its very existence. By the end of the decade the country’s economy was afflicted by skyrocketing inflation, high unemployment, a huge foreign debt, and serious food shortages. According to official figures, salaries in the country dropped by 24 per cent and living conditions plunged to the level of the mid 1960s”
• The first post-Tito ethnic discontent occurred in the autonomous region of Kosovo (and in the 1980s this was seen as the most likely place for violence to erupt)
• Key events in the progression towards conflict were the appointment of Slobodan Milosevic, first as Serbian Communist Party Chief
  o Milosevic became President of Serbia in 1989 (re-elected in 1992) and President of Yugoslavia in 1997
• Before either of the countries broke off from Yugoslavia, each leader had plans for expanding the territory of his republic to include large swaths of Bosnia, and in Serbia’s case, significant portions of Croatia
• Between 1987 and 1991, Milosevic outmanoeuvred his mentor Ivan Stambolic to become President of Serbia and manipulated the constitutional leadership of Yugoslavia to create more power for Serbia (which built a strong alliance with Montenegro)
• Subsequently, the Yugoslav President gave Milosevic authorisation to use the Yugoslav People’s Army in Kosovo to suppress ethnic Albanians
• In 1989 Kosovo lost its autonomy
• Lenard Cohen:
  o “In effect, Milosevic successfully exploited a backlash of Serbian nationalism in order to build a cross-regional alliance of ethnic Serbs unprecedented in Yugoslavia since the formation of Tito’s Word War II Partisan movement”
• During 1990 multi-party elections were held for the first-time in Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and brought to power politicians who appealed to voters on nationalist grounds
• The biggest problem was the position of the 25% of Yugoslavia’s Serbs living outside Serbia (proper)
• Milosevic consolidated his power in Serbia first
• In 1990 Milosevic extended his grasp in the direction of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina (where Serbian nationalist parties were also established in these republics)
• The collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe weakened the glue that had held together the diverse, mutually antagonistic ethnic groups of the former Soviet bloc
• The Serbian desire for a reunified homeland manifested itself in a resurgent nationalistic movement
• Serbian leaders, such as Slobodan Milosevic, shaped the issues of alleged Albanian mistreatment of Serbs and a widespread sense of economic deprivation into concrete political goals
• In 1989, violent Serbian demonstrations drove the constitutionally elected leaders of both Vojvodina and Kosovo out of office
• Meanwhile, Yugoslavia’s government struggled unsuccessfully to cope with a plunging economy and the re-emergence of local nationalism
• The 165-member Central Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party held an emergency session in October 1988 but could not find a solution to the problem
• Two months later, the entire Yugoslavian cabinet resigned. In January 1989, the Communist Party voted to give up its power monopoly

Question 7

1991 – 1995 disintegration and conflict

Answer 7

• Through political manoeuvring Milosevic was able to block the normal rotation of a new president of Yugoslavia (who was supposed to be a Croat) and effectively brought the Yugoslav government to a standstill
• Slovenia and Croatia walked out of negotiations between the republics and subsequently declared their independence
• Slovenia and then Croatia were the first to break away and unilaterally declared their independence on 25 June 1991, but only at the cost of renewed conflict with Serbia
  o Slovenia
   Within 24 hours the JNA (Yugoslav People’s Army) and the Slovenian Territorial Defence Force were locked in combat
   This ended quickly and the Slovenians were successful
  o Croatia
   The Croatian Serb paramilitary forces launched an offensive on the Croats
   Milosevic’s supporters engaged in terrorist activities against the civilian population
   The war in Croatia led to hundreds of thousands of refugees and reawakened memories of the brutality of the 1940s
• The European Community’s recognition of Croatian independence on 15 January 1992 had virtually guaranteed war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (with Serb separatists)
• Macedonia had voted to leave Yugoslavia in September 1991 and this was later followed in October 1991 by Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Thus the federal government collapsed in late 1991 and in April 1992 Serbia and Montenegro (the two remaining republics) formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
• The decision by the Bosniaks (Muslims) and Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina to secede (break away) resulted in conflict which lasted until 1995:
  o Bosnia-Herzegovina
   The Serbs who lived there were determined to remain within Yugoslavia and to help build a greater Serbia
   The Bosnian Croats and Muslims wanted independence (they feared that Milosevic would try to take their land if they were still under Yugoslav control)
   The Serbs received strong backing from extremist groups in Belgrade and Milosevic backed Serbian militias who were fighting to unite Bosnia and Croatia with Serbia
   The war in Bosnia began in April 1992
   Muslims were driven from their homes in carefully planned operations that became known as ‘ethnic cleansing’ (the mass expulsion and/or killing of members of one ethnic or religious group in an area by those of another)
   By 1993 the Bosnian Muslim government was besieged in the capital Sarajevo, surrounded by Bosnian Serb forces who controlled around 70% of Bosnia
   In Central Bosnia, the mainly Muslim army was fighting a separate war against Bosnian Croats who wished to be part of a greater Croatia
   The presence of UN peacekeepers to contain the situation proved ineffective
   After three years of full-scale warfare in Bosnia, however, Serbian militias were unable to overwhelm the Bosniak and Croatian forces there
   Croatia, meanwhile, took back most of the territory earlier captured by Serbs when it waged lightning military campaigns in 1995 which also resulted in the mass exodus of around 200,000 Serbs from Croatia

Question 8

Role of United Nations

Answer 8

• In 1991 the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo against Yugoslavia
• The embargo had the unintended effect of strongly favouring the Serbs, who started the war with a huge advantage in arms
• On 21 February, the Security Council, by its resolution 743 (1992), approved the report and established UNPROFOR (UN Protection Force) for an initial period of 12 months
• The UNPROFOR troops were strictly a humanitarian force, with orders to be neutral even in the face of blatant Serb aggression
• In 1992, the UN began studying what could be done about the human rights abuses committed against Bosnian civilians, and in May 1993 created six safe havens – Bihac, Gorazde, Srebrenica, Sarajevo, Tuzla and Zepa
• Critically, the UN did not define the safe zones and did not provide for their defence by UN or other troops
• The safe havens became sitting targets for potential aggressors

Question 9

Srebrenica Genocide 1995

Answer 9

• Srebrenica was a UN safe-haven where thousands of Bosnian Muslims from surrounding villages had gathered for protection by UN peacekeepers from the Dutch army in 1995
• In July 1995 it was overtaken by Ratko Mladic’s Bosnian Serb forces who would thereafter move onto another safe haven, Zepa
• The women, boys and old men were deported
• But men of fighting age, 16-60, were rounded up by Serbian troops and paramilitaries under the command of General Ratko Mladic and massacred
• The first unarmed Muslims were massacred in a warehouse in the village of Kravica
• Around 8,000 Muslim men and boys were eventually killed
• Greenberg “Srebenica exposed UNPROFOR for what it was: a poorly planned humanitarian-planned force that was an ineffective substitute for the kind of military force needed to stop the atrocities”

Question 10

Dayton Peace (or Dayton Accords) – 21 November

Answer 10

• American pressure to end the war in Bosnia eventually led to the Dayton Accords of November 1995
• It was a peace agreement between the presidents of Bosnia (Alija Izetbegović), Croatia (Franjo Tudjman) and Serbia (Slobodan Milosevic)
• It ended the war and outlined a General Framework Agreement for peace
• It preserved Bosnia as a single state made up of two parts
  o The Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb Republic); and
  o Muslim (Bosnjak)-Croat Federation (Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina – decentralised federation of Bosniaks and Croats)
   Sarajevo remained as the undivided capital city
   The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of three members: one Bosniak and one Croat elected from the Federation and one Serb elected from the Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb Republic)
• The settlement’s aims were to bring about the reintegration of Bosnia and to protect the human rights but the agreement has been criticised for not reversing the results of ethnic cleansing
• The Muslim-Croat and Serb entities have their own governments, parliaments and armies
• A NATO-led peacekeeping force is charged with implementing the military aspects of the peace agreement, primarily overseeing the separation of forces
• But the force was also granted extensive additional powers, including the authority to arrest indicted war criminals when encountered in the normal course of its duties
  Note – some diplomats and observers believe that Milosevic and the President of Croatia (Franjo Tudjman 1990-1999) were co-conspirators in the plot to divide Bosnia. Before the Dayton Accords they appeared to have agreed upon an agenda for Bosnia (split it between the two

Question 11

Kosovo Intervention

Answer 11

• This conflict had its origins in the late 1980s when in 1989 imposition of direct rule from Belgrade over Kosovo (a predominantly Albanian province) led to tension and waves of violence between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians
• The KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) emerged in 1996 and its sporadic attacks on Serbian police and politicians steadily increased over the next two years
• In 1998, nine years after the abolition of Kosovo’s autonomy, the KLA (supported by the majority ethnic Albanians), came out in open rebellion against Serbian rule which escalated into an international crisis
• Yugoslav armed forces attempted to reassert control over the region
• Ethnic Albanians opposed ethnic Serbs and the government of Yugoslavia (which now consisted of Serbia and Montenegro and the two provinces)
• The international community, while supporting greater autonomy, opposed the Kosovar Albanians’ demand for independence
• But international pressure grew on Serb strongman, Slobodan Milosevic, to bring an end to the escalating violence in the province
• The KLA regrouped after a temporary cease-fire and renewed its attacks
• The Yugoslav and Serb forces responded with a ruthless counteroffensive and engaged in a programme of ethnic cleansing
• Atrocities committed by the Serb police, paramilitary groups and the army caused a wave of refugees to flee the area
  o There was a pattern of human rights and humanitarian law violations on a staggering scale often committed with extreme and appalling violence
  o The Yugoslav and Serb forces drove out all of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians, displacing hundreds of thousands

Question 12

Operation Allied Force - NATO intervention

Answer 12

• Threats of military action by the West over the crisis culminated in the launching of NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia on 24 March 1999, the first attack on a sovereign European country in the alliance’s history
• The decision to intervene followed more than a year of fighting within the province and the failure of international efforts to resolve the conflict by diplomatic means
• The NATO bombing campaign lasted 11 weeks and in addition to targeting Serb military targets it eventually expanded to its capital Belgrade
• The strikes focused primarily on military targets in Kosovo and Serbia, but extended to a wide range of other facilities, including bridges, oil refineries, power supplies and communications
• Within days of the strikes starting, tens of thousands of Kosovo Albanian refugees were pouring out of the province with accounts of killings, atrocities and forced expulsions at the hands of Serb forces
• Returning them to their homes, along with those who had fled in the months of fighting before the strikes, became a top priority for the NATO countries
• Meanwhile, relations between Serbia and the only other remaining Yugoslav republic, Montenegro, hit rock bottom, with Montenegrin leaders seeking to distance themselves from Slobodan Milosevic’s handling of Kosovo
• On 3 June 1999 Milosevic signed a peace accord outlining troop withdrawal and the return of nearly one million ethnic Albanians as well as another 500,000 displaced within the province
• This was NATO’s Military Technical Agreement with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
• There are a number of reasons why Milosevic succumbed to NATO and international pressure and capitulated:
  o NATO solidarity did not crumble and Milosevic was unable to divide the NATO allies
  o Russia began to cooperate with NATO allies and abandon its blustery support for its fellow Slavs
  o Strategic bombing in Serbia and central Belgrade
  o The threat of US and NATO deploying ground troops
  o Resurgence of KLA and cooperation with NATO
  o Milosevic’s indictment for war crimes on 24 May 1999 led to him becoming the first head of state to be charged with war crimes (all part of the international pressure on Milosevic)
• There are conflicting reports on the number of civilian deaths as a result of the NATO air strikes
  o Yugoslav government claimed there were between 1,200 and 5,000 civilian deaths
  o Human Rights Watch reported that there were approximately 500 civilian deaths over the 78 day bombing campaign
• Approximately 90% of Kosovar Albanians were displaced as a result of the conflict
• There were 340 murder victims identified by name in the war crimes indictment of Milosevic and four other high-ranking officials
• On the 10 June 1999 a United Nations Security Council Resolution was adopted (UNSCR 1244)
  o This made Kosovo a UN protectorate and authorised an international civil and military presence in the area
   This was put into action on 12 June 1999

Question 13

NATO’s role in Kosovo

Answer 13

• NATO has been leading a peace-support operation since June 1999
• The Kosovo Force (KFOR) was established when NATO’s air campaign was over
• The KFOR was initially composed of some 50,000 men and women from NATO member countries, partner countries and other non-NATO countries
• The main aims were to:
  o Support wider international efforts to build peace and stability in the area
  o Deter renewed hostilities
  o Establish a secure environment and ensure public safety and order
  o Demilitarise the KLA

Question 14

From 2000 to present day

Answer 14

• Slobodan Milosevic lost a presidential election in 2000
• He refused to accept the result but was forced out of office by strikes and massive street protests, which culminated in the storming of parliament
• The Serbian Prime Minister is reported to have said [noting that Mr. Milosevic basically called Serbs to war in his famous Kosovo speech 12 years ago] that this led only to
  o “12 years of wars, catastrophe and ruin for our country” and that the transfer decision was intended to save Serbia “not so much for ourselves and for our parents, but for our children…With this decision, we are saving the future of our children”
• In 2001 Milosevic was handed over to a UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, and put on trial for crimes against humanity and genocide (he was found dead by suspected heart attack in his cell in 2006)
• In the indictment which was judicially confirmed in 2001, Milosevic was accused of 66 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo between 1991 and 1999
  o Croatia indictment:
   “Milosevic planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted the planning, preparation or execution of the persecution of the Croat and other non-Serb civilian populations”
  o Bosnia indictment:
   “After the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, almost all captured Bosnian Muslim men and boys, altogether several thousands, were executed”
  o Kosovo indictment:
   “The killings occurred in a widespread or systematic manner throughout the province of Kosovo and resulted in the deaths of numerous men, women, and children”
• Ratko Mladic, Bosnian Serb military leader, was also indicted on war crimes in 1996 for his role in the Bosnian war
  o He is accused of being responsible for the Srebrenica massacre (amongst other crimes) and despite avoiding authorities for nearly 16 years he was finally arrested in 2011 and his trial commenced in 2012
• In 2003 Yugoslavia disappeared from the map of Europe, after the two remaining republics agreed to abandon the name Yugoslavia and rename Serbia and Montenegro
• Montenegro later gained its independence in June 2006 and the union with Serbia was over
• The death of Yugoslavia is only one of many momentous changes that have occurred since the end of the Kosovo conflict
• Kosovo gained its independence in 2008
• Conflict between Serbs and ethnic Albanians threatened to erupt in late 2000 in the Presevo valley, on the Serbian side of the Kosovo border, but dialogue between Albanian guerrillas and the new democratic authorities in Belgrade allowed tensions to evaporate
• There was, however, a major outbreak of inter-ethnic violence in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in 2001, again involving the Albanian minority
• This was contained by NATO peacekeepers and ultimately resolved by political means

Question 15

Changing role of NATO from Cold War Alliance to the NATO-Russia Council

Answer 15

• It is often said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded in response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union
• This is only partially true. In fact, the Alliance’s creation was part of a broader effort to serve three purposes:
  o Deterring Soviet expansionism
  o Forbidding the revival of nationalist militarism in Europe through a strong North American presence on the continent
  o Encouraging European political integration
• Aid provided through the US-funded Marshall Plan and other means fostered a degree of economic stabilisation
• However, European states still needed confidence in their security, before they would begin talking and trading with each other
• Military cooperation, and the security it would bring, would have to develop in parallel with economic and political progress
• The North Atlantic Treaty was signed on 4 April 1949
• NATO soon gained a consolidated command structure with a military Headquarters based in the Parisian suburb of Rocquencourt, near Versailles. This was Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, or SHAPE, with US General Dwight D. Eisenhower as the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe, or SACEUR.
• Soon afterward, the Allies established a permanent civilian secretariat in Paris, and named NATO’s first Secretary General, Lord Ismay of the United Kingdom
• In the 1950s NATO adopted the strategic doctrine of ‘Massive Retaliation’ – if the Soviet Union attacked, NATO would respond with nuclear weapons. The intended effect of this doctrine was to deter either side from risk-taking since any attack, however small, could have led to a full nuclear exchange. Simultaneously, “Massive Retaliation” allowed Alliance members to focus their energies on economic growth rather than on maintaining large conventional armies
• In the 1960s, this uneasy but stable status quo began to change. Cold War tensions re-ignited as Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and US President John F. Kennedy narrowly avoided conflict in Cuba, and as American involvement in Vietnam escalated
• Despite this unpropitious start, by decade’s end what had been primarily a defence-based organisation came to embody a new phenomemon: détente, a relaxation of tensions between the Western and Eastern blocs driven by a grudging acceptance of the status quo
• During this decade, NATO and SHAPE unexpectedly moved to a new home. In March 1966, France announced its intention to withdraw from NATO’s integrated military command structure and requested the removal of all Allied headquarters from French territory
• A new SHAPE Headquarters was established in Casteau, Belgium in March 1967, and NATO HQ moved to Brussels in October of the same year
• Significantly, France remained within the Alliance and consistently emphasized its intention to stand together with its Allies in the event of hostilities. France also proved to be among the Alliance’s most valuable force contributors during later peacekeeping operations
• The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Soviet deployment of SS-20 Saber ballistic missiles in Europe led to the suspension of détente
• To counter the Soviet deployment, the “dual track” decision was made to deploy nuclear-capable Pershing II and ground-launched cruise missiles in Western Europe while continuing negotiations with the Soviets
• Following the ascent of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet Premier in 1985, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987, eliminating all nuclear and ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges. This is now regarded as an initial indication that the Cold War was coming to an end
• The 1980s also saw the accession of NATO’s first new member since 1955. In 1982, a newly democratic Spain joined the transatlantic alliance
• NATO endured because while the Soviet Union was no more, the Alliance’s two other original if unspoken mandates still held:
  o To deter the rise of militant nationalism
  o To provide the foundation of collective security that would encourage democratisation and political integration in Europe
• In 1991 as in 1949, NATO was to be the foundation stone for a larger, pan-European security architecture. In December 1991, the Allies established the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, renamed the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in 1997. This forum brought the Allies together with their Central European, Eastern European, and Central Asian neighbours for joint consultations. Many of these newly liberated countries – or Partners, as they were soon called – saw a relationship with NATO as fundamental to their own aspirations for stability, democracy, and European integration
• Cooperation also extended southward. In 1994, the Alliance founded the Mediterranean Dialogue with six non-member Mediterranean countries: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, with Algeria also joining in 2000. The Dialogue seeks to contribute to security and stability in the Mediterranean through better mutual understanding
• The collapse of Communism had given way to the rise of nationalism and ethnic violence, particularly in the former Yugoslavia. At first, Allies hesitated to intervene in what was perceived as a Yugoslav civil war. Later the conflict came to be seen as a war of aggression and ethnic cleansing, and the Alliance decided to act
• The Alliance carried out a nine-day air campaign in September 1995 that played a major role in ending the conflict. In December of that year, NATO deployed a UN-mandated, multinational force of 60 000 soldiers to help implement the Dayton Peace Agreement and to create the conditions for a self-sustaining peace. In 2004, NATO handed over this role to the European Union
• The Yugoslav conflict – and other contemporaneous conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia, and elsewhere – made clear that the post-Cold War power vacuum was a source of dangerous instability
• As part of this evolving effort, the Partnership for Peace programme was created, or PfP, in 1994
  o The Partnership for Peace allowed non-NATO countries, or “Partners”, to share information with NATO Allies and to modernize their militaries in line with modern democratic standards
• Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic were invited to join at the Madrid Summit in July 1997 (achieved full membership in 1999)
  o Prime Minister of Poland Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz:
   “The day when Poland is invited to negotiations on NATO membership has a chance of going down in history as the end of the Yalta order in Europe”
  o NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana
   “…a defining moment for NATO…Madrid will be remembered as the time when North America and Europe came together to shape the course of a new century…United by common purpose and shared values, the new alliance stands ready to shape a brighter, more secure future”
• This would allow for newly independent states to gradually meet the military standards the Pentagon deemed necessary for membership into NATO
• This process reached an important milestone at the 1999 Washington Summit when three former Partners – Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary – took their seats as full Alliance members following their completion of a political and military reform programme. Through enlargement, NATO had played a crucial role in consolidating democracy and stability in Europe (this also coincided with NATO’s 50th anniversary)
• By the end of 1998, over 300 000 Kosovar Albanians had fled their homes during conflict between Albanian separatists in Kosovo and Serb military and police. Following the failure of intense international efforts to resolve the crisis, the Alliance conducted air strikes for 78 days and flew 38 000 sorties with the goal of allowing a multinational peacekeeping force to enter Kosovo and cease ethnic cleansing in the region
• On 4 June 1999, NATO suspended its air campaign after confirming that a withdrawal of the Serbian army from Kosovo had begun, and the deployment of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) followed shortly thereafter. Today, KFOR troops are still deployed in Kosovo to help maintain a safe and secure environment and freedom of movement for all citizens, irrespective of their ethnic origin
• Balkan intervention began the Alliance’s transformation into a more dynamic and responsive organization. Gone was the Cold War doctrine of nuclear retaliation, and in its place, the determination to use, after all peaceful means had failed, measured and carefully applied force in combination with diplomatic and humanitarian efforts to stop conflict, and to do so, if necessary out of NATO’s traditional North Atlantic sphere
• In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, a coalition of countries – including many NATO Allies – militarily intervened in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001
• The goal of the mission, Operation Enduring Freedom, was to deny al-Qaida a base of operations and to detain as many al-Qaida leaders as possible
• In December 2001, following the overthrow of the Taliban regime, UN Security Council Resolution 1386 authorized the deployment of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a multilateral force in and around Kabul to help stabilize the country and create the conditions of a self-sustaining peace
• In August 2003, NATO took over command and coordination of ISAF
• Meanwhile, NATO continued to accept new members and to build new partnerships
• The NATO-Russia Council was established in 2002 so that individual NATO member states and Russia could work as equal partners on security issues of common interest
• In 2004, the Alliance launched the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative as a way of offering practical bilateral security cooperation to countries of the broader Middle East region
• Finally, subsequent rounds of enlargement brought more Allies into the fold – Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in 2004, and Croatia and Albania in 2009

Question 16

NATO-Russia Council (to present day)

Answer 16

• Relations started after the end of the Cold War, when Russia joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (1991) and the Partnership for Peace programme (1994)
• The 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security provided the formal basis for relations
  o The “Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between NATO and the Russian Federation” was approved by the North Atlantic Council on 16 May 1997 (signed on 27 May)
  o The NATO-Russia Founding Act reflects the changing security environment in Europe, an environment in which the confrontation of the Cold War has been replaced by the promise of closer cooperation among former adversaries
  o It reflects in particular the practice of consultation and cooperation established between the Alliance and Russia over the last few years, the most remarkable example being the participation of Russian troops alongside those of NATO and other partner countries in IFOR/SFOR
   IFOR - Operation Joint Endeavour (20 Dec. 1995 - 20 Dec. 1996) in Bosnia and Herzegovina
   SFOR - Stabilisation Force (Jan. 1996 - Dec. 2005) in Bosnia and Herzegovina
  o NATO and Russia do not consider each other as adversaries; the Founding Act is the expression of an enduring commitment, undertaken at the highest political level, to build together a lasting and inclusive peace in the Euro-Atlantic area
  o The new security partnership between NATO and Russia will be one step among others which are being taken to build a stable, peaceful and undivided Europe. It will allow the Alliance and Russia to forge a closer relationship. This is in the interest, not only of NATO and Russia, but also of all states in the Euro-Atlantic area
  o The Founding Act, as agreed with the Russian side, has four sections. It begins with a preamble which establishes the context for the stable and enduring partnership to be built. It states the reasons why NATO and Russia believe that it is in their shared interest to cooperate more broadly and intensively
  o It highlights the profound transformation that the Alliance has undergone since the end of the Cold War, through reductions of conventional and nuclear forces, through a revision of its strategic concept, through its new missions such as peacekeeping, and through its support for security cooperation throughout Europe, in particular within the framework of Partnership for Peace. It also refers to the transformation Russia is undergoing, its force reductions – which will continue, the withdrawal of Russian forces from Central and Eastern Europe, the revision of Russia’s military doctrine, and its participation in the multinational operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina
  o Section I details the principles on which the NATO - Russia partnership will be based. These include commitments to norms of international behaviour as reflected in the UN Charter and OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) documents, as well as more explicit commitments such as respecting states’ sovereignty, independence and right to choose the means to ensure their security, and the peaceful settlement of disputes. Both sides commit themselves to strengthening the OSCE with the aim of creating a common space of security and stability in Europe
  o Section II creates a new forum: the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council (PJC). This will be the venue for consultations, cooperation and – wherever possible – consensus building between the Alliance and Russia
   The PJC will:
  o Hold regular consultations on a broad range of political or security related matters;
  o Based on these consultations, develop joint initiatives on which NATO and Russia would agree to speak or act in parallel;
  o Once consensus has been reached, make joint decisions, if appropriate, and take joint action on a case-by-case basis
  o Such joint actions may include peacekeeping operations under the authority of the UN Security Council or the responsibility of the OSCE
  o Section III details a broad range of topics on which NATO and Russia can consult and perhaps cooperate, including preventing and settling conflicts, peacekeeping, preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and exchanging information on security and defence policies and forces. Conversion of defence industries, defence related environmental issues, and civil emergency preparedness are other areas for consultation and possible cooperation spelled out in this section
  o Section IV covers military issues. In this section, the members of NATO reiterate their statement of 10 December 1996 that they have no intention, no plan and no reason to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of new members, nor any need to change any aspects of NATO’s nuclear posture or nuclear policy - and do not foresee any future need to do so
  o NATO also reiterates its 14 March 1997 Statement indicating that in the current and foreseeable security environment, NATO plans to carry out its collective defence and other missions by ensuring the necessary interoperability, integration and capability for reinforcement rather than by additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces. Accordingly, the Alliance will have to rely on adequate infrastructure to allow for reinforcement if necessary
  o NATO and Russia commit themselves in the same section to pursuing promptly the work relating to the adaptation of the treaty governing conventional forces in Europe (CFE), in order to further reduce the levels of Treaty Limited Equipment. This commitment will be pursued in the ongoing negotiations on CFE adaptation in Vienna and will help to achieve a result that reflects the changed security environment in Europe since the Treaty was adopted in 1990
  o Finally, Section IV provides mechanisms to foster closer military-to-military cooperation between NATO and Russia, including by creating military liaison missions on both sides
• Dialogue and cooperation were strengthened in 2002 with the establishment of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) to serve as a forum for consultation on current security issues and to direct practical cooperation in a wide range of areas
• Russia’s disproportionate military action in Georgia in August 2008 led to the suspension of formal meetings of the NRC and cooperation in some areas, until spring 2009. The Allies continue to call on Russia to reverse its recognition of the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states
• All practical civilian and military cooperation under the NRC with Russia was suspended in April 2014 in response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict
• At the Wales Summit in September 2014, NATO leaders condemned Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine and demanded:
  o Russia comply with international law and its international obligations and responsibilities
  o End its illegal and illegitimate occupation ‘annexation’ of Crimea
  o Refrain from aggressive actions against Ukraine
  o Withdraw its troops; halt the flow of weapons, equipment, people and money across the border to the separatists; and stop fomenting tension along and across the Ukrainian border
• NATO is also concerned about Russia’s increasing military activities along NATO’s borders, which continues to make the Euro-Atlantic security environment less stable and predictable
• The NRC met on 20 April 2016, almost two years after its last meeting, to discuss the crisis in and around Ukraine; issues related to military activities, transparency and risk reduction, and to assess the security situation in Afghanistan
• NATO and Russia have profound and persistent disagreements; however, the Alliance does not seek confrontation and poses no threat to Russia
• NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed the value of political dialogue following the NATO-Russia Council on Wednesday (13 July 2016)
  o “Today we had very useful discussions. We addressed some of the most important issues on the Euro-Atlantic security agenda. This shows the value of the NATO-Russia Council”