Long-Term Possibilities for NATO-Russia Naval Security Cooperation

Abstract:

The Russian Federation and NATO members are not political, economic, or military adversaries. A common security space--characterized by peace, prosperity, and stability--is possible in Eurasia. This space will not be achieved without NATO-Russia cooperation in coping with a variety of common threats and challenges. Genuine progress has been made in NATO-Russia security cooperation, especially since the inception of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) in 2002. At the same time, more needs to be done and existing structures and mechanisms of NATO-Russia security cooperation need to evolve to the next level. But just what should this next level look like? To answer this question, the fundamental working proposition of this paper is that the next stage of security cooperation should be practical; that it should provide a menu of options, a list of possibilities, or a series of prescriptions for joint NATO-Russia action in the area of security. Some of these recommendations might be immediately actionable, while others might be achieved over time. In all cases, however, they need to reinforce the notion that cooperation often relies on the “art of the possible” when it comes to creating a shared security space that is both peaceful and prosperous.