Moscow can still reject pact

Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev signed two documents in Holland, which officially means that Russian-NATO cooperation took a half-step forward.

Last December in Brussels, Kozyrev demonstrated Russia's displeasure with NATO's eastward expansion. Six months have passed without any amendments to the documents, and nevertheless they have now been signed. It is clear why -- the subject was obviously discussed at the Russian-U.S. summit in Moscow, where Russian President Boris Yeltsin promised to sign the documents in exchange for the West's acceptance of our behavior in Chechnya.

The first document declares that cooperation will take place, and the second one promises a stable dialog between Russia and NATO. But it does not give Russia veto rights, meaning that we received a folding seat added to their common bench.

In Holland, Kozyrev made it clear that NATO expansion would put Russia's Partnership for Peace membership in question. So, our general line will continue to be full of zigzags and somersaults.

NATO leaders maintain that NATO expansion should be a steady process, that nothing can influence it and no Russian veto will be allowed. They believe the Kremlin will never agree to have NATO troops near its borders.

So, all sides are playing their own game: Russia officially joined the Partnership for Peace program making no secret of the fact that it can withdraw its signature at any moment. The West is trying not to make Moscow nervous by setting certain terms for NATO membership applicants and by not accelerating the expansion process.

Everybody is apparently relying on time. Brussels is taking into account upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in Russia, and waiting to see whether or not Moscow decision makers will be replaced.

-- Obshchaya Gazeta, Moscow