France (la République française)
Russian MFA Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko Comment to a Media Query about French President’s Decision to Return the Country to NATO Military Structures
Question: How can you comment on the statement of French President Nicolas Sarkozy about the intention of Paris to return to NATO?
Answer: Moscow has taken note of the intention declared by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to bring France back to NATO's military structures, with Paris retaining autonomy in the use of French troops abroad and the independent status of national nuclear forces.
Determining the concrete parameters of its participation in the alliance is a sovereign decision of France. It is too early to judge the extent to which the plans announced by President Sarkozy will help to strengthen interaction in the Euro-Atlantic space in the interests of more effectively responding to real, not imaginary threats to European security on the basis of the principle of the indivisibility of security set forth in the documents of the OSCE and the Russia-NATO Council. At the same time, we welcome the focus stressed by Sarkozy on constructing partner relations with Russia and the readiness to jointly discuss security issues on our continent.
The struggle against the common challenges and threats to all – terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and drug trafficking – and cooperation on Afghanistan can be successful only on the condition of coordination of efforts by all states of the Euro-Atlantic area and international organizations concerned with the maintenance of security in this region.
March 14, 2009
