RIGA - The Latvian Transatlantic Organization (LATO) conference that took place on Oct. 14 and 15 sparked a robust but relatively one-sided debate over NATO and EU policy toward an increasingly belligerent Russia.
"Today we have a resurgent Russia. History is back with a vengeance… Russia is going to do their own thing, and we should just let them. We should accept that we cannot make Russia a democracy, but we should draw red lines," Estonian President Toomas Hendrick Ilves said during a panel discussion.
The conference drew a number of high-profile guests, including Ilves, EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, former Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Deputy Head of the U.S. mission to NATO Richard Olson and President of the Robert Schuman Foundation Jean-Dominique Giuliani
The only member of the discussions to give Russia's perspective was Konstantine Eggert, bureau editor of the BBC Russia service, who explained that Russia is facing an "identity crises," and has only one tool at its disposal 's cheap gas supplies.
"Russia is an increasingly authoritarian regime that needs legitimacy, which can only be achieved through elections. This is leading to a potential crisis," Eggert said. The conference was designed to act as both a continuation of last years NATO summit in Riga and a precursor to the upcoming summit in Bucharest. As many of the same guests who attended the LATO conference were at the recent Vilnius energy conference (see story Page 1), it also acted as an informal follow-up on some of the ideas raised in Lithuania. Other topics discussed at the conference included the prospect of Georgia and the Ukraine joining the EU and NATO, improving Baltic energy connections with Western Europe, the changing role of NATO and European values and interests.
