Europe and the United States should end their "bloc approach" to security based on NATO and instead sign up to Russian proposals for a new security system, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told delegates at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, January 6.

According to the Russian foreign minister, the end of the Cold War gave the opportunity to make the 56-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which includes both Russia and the US, the main security organization in Europe.

"Unfortunately, this opportunity was missed, since the choice was made in favor of NATO's expansion policy, dividing Europe into zones but moving these lines deliberately to the East," Lavrov said.

His criticism came a day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approved a new Russian military doctrine that singles out NATO expansion, describing it as a military threat that undermines efforts to improve ties between the Western military alliance and Moscow.

Common interests

NATO's leadership was quick to reject the new Russian military doctrine and insist that the two sides share common interests.

"I have to say that this new doctrine does not reflect the real world," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the conference. "NATO is not an enemy of Russia,"

The Western alliance froze ties with Moscow in 2008 over Russia's intervention in Georgia. But since then, NATO has gradually resumed formal contacts.

"I think Russia and we share the same interests in success in Afghanistan," Rasmussen said.

Mending fences

Visiting Moscow in December, Rasmussen had rebuffed the Kremlin's call for new defense arrangements in Europe, saying he saw no need for a new security treaty as proposed by Russia.

Medvedev had published a draft post-Cold War security pact on November 29, saying this could replace NATO and other institutions and restrict the ability of any country to use force unilaterally. It is a reiteration of Russian calls made since 2008 to outlaw "one state enhancing its security at another's expense."

NATO countries reacted skeptically, seeing the Russian plan as an attempt to divide the alliance and saying that the existing Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was the right place to discuss security issues.

nt/Reuters/dpa/

Editor: Toma Tasovac