ACCESSION NUMBER:348979
FILE ID:EUR309
DATE:06/15/94
TITLE:16-NATION NATO COMMITTED TO ENLARGING ITSELF (06/15/94)
TEXT:*94061502.PFE
*EUR309   06/15/94
16-NATION NATO COMMITTED TO ENLARGING ITSELF
(NATO officials at Atlantic Council briefing) (440)
By Jim Shevis
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- While Russia still has reservations about NATO's enlargement,
the Alliance is committed to it, the official spokesman for the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization said June 15.

"We've said we're going to," Jamie P. Shea told reporters at a briefing
sponsored by the Atlantic Council of the United States.

"We hope to go ahead with Russia's acquiescence, if not enthusiasm," he
said.

The Atlantic Council is a Washington public-policy center that concerns
itself chiefly with U.S. security interests.

Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev said recently that Russia will sign
the Partnership for Peace initiative allowing limited membership in the
Alliance, but wants special treatment.

But Shea said Russia will need to meet the same requirements for partnership
as other countries, and would have equal status with them.

At the same time, however, "we are prepared to offer Russia a dialogue that
takes into consideration its size and its nuclear capabilities," Shea said.
 "We hope an intensive dialogue will show Russia it has much to gain."

The Partnership for Peace program, unveiled at the NATO summit in Brussels
last January, has had "a hesitant start but has proved to be a success,"
Shea said.

In the past five months, 20 Central and Eastern European countries have
signed formal documents declaring readiness to enter into a partnership, he
said.

When will NATO enlarge its membership? Shea was asked.
"I'd say within the next five years we will take on new members," he said.
NATO Assistant Secretary General Robin L. Beard and Shea were in Washington
to meet with members of Congress, urging them to provide the necessary
funds for continued U.S. participation in the 16-nation security alliance.

"Funding is a very critical problem right now," said Beard, who served in
the House of Representatives from 1972 to 1982.

"I hope we can get that message across to Congress.  We need at least to
hold on to what we've got," he said.

Shea told reporters, "It is in the interests of the United States to
preserve NATO because, through this alliance, other countries are prepared
1o share burdens which the United States otherwise might have to shoulder
alone."

NATO is busier than ever since the collapse of communism, Shea said.  "Its
challenge is not justifying itself but performing a number of tasks at the
same time," he said.

Describing it as "history's most successful security alliance," Shea said
NATO continues because it has been successful at taking action and in
adapting to changing times.

NNNN

.