Medvedev meets Sarkozy and Merkel for security talks
France is giving Russia special treatment at the seaside resort of Deauville with dinner Monday evening, ahead G20 talks in South Korea this week. Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev is to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss a pan-European security partnership.
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“We will discuss whether it is possible for Russia and Nato to cooperate better because the era of the Cold War is definitely offer,” Merkel said on Saturday.
"The Russian president has proposed a common security architecture. He is working step-by-step to define this architecture - of course in a spirit of partnership of all European countries with Russia," she said.
No big announcements are expected, but the get-together takes places a month before Nato allies meet to agree on their new security vision, and days before a G20 summit.
Some Nato allies, especially former Soviet satellites, were irritated they were not invited to Monday's meeting, concerned that France and Germany would meet with what they see as a difficult neighbour.
Diplomats, however, say Russia has recently shown signs it wants to cooperate with the West. French officials refer to Russia’s signing of a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with the US and its application of the latest sanctions against Iran as examples of this.
In Moscow, Medvedev’s top foreign policy expert confirmed that closer ties with Nato would be on the agenda at Deauville.
Later this week G20 countries will meet up in South Korea, where they are expected to discuss currency reform amid fears nations could adopt trade barriers in the face of competition with Asian exports.
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