In a speech to German businessmen today, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the desire of the Baltic States to join NATO as a threat to Russia's security that could potentially destabilize the situation both in Europe and across the world.

President Lennart Meri, before leaving Washington DC where he had been on a three-day visit, commented on President Putin's statement saying that NATO's history has proven that the Alliance has increased stability for both its members as well as its neighbours. It is also important to note, said President Meri, that it is not NATO expanding to the borders of Russia, but nine sovereign nations, stretching from the north to the south, who have expressed their decision to join the Alliance who's values they share.

Mr. Putin's statement regrettably ignores one of the basic principles of the OSCE subsribed to by Russia herself: all countries have an inherent right to choose their own security arrangement, including the joining of alliances. For example, no country has ever contested the right of Russia and Belarus to form a security alliance.

President Meri expressed surprise over the anxiety in President Putin's statement in which the Baltic States could be considered a threat to their neighbours or a source of instability in the region. Thoroughout the decade, they have proven the contrary, serving as examples of democratic and economic progress. They have increased the cooperation and stability in Europe.

President Meri's visit to Washington, DC was dedicated to honoring the commitment of the United States to Baltic freedom and the 60th Anniversary of non-recognition by the United States of the forceful annexation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union in 1940.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, June 15, 2000

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