US presses for new-look Atlantic Alliance

Fifty years after the Yalta Conference, the outlines of a new security arrangement are starting to emerge from Washington and European capitals.

The US is pressing for a more institutionalised relationship with Moscow, coupled with early enlargement of Nato to bring in central Europe. In an article in the current US journal, Foreign Affairs, the US assistant Secretary of State, Richard Holbrooke, sets out new ideas that propose a twin-track policy: new relations with Moscow and Nato membership for some post-communist states. Mr Holbrooke is pushing for quick action by the Nato members, to allow the alliance to define who would come in, and when, by the end of the year.

Nato ambassadors agreed yesterday that senior officials in Brussels would hold a "brain-storming" session next month on ideas for creating a new framework for relations with Moscow. "This is the beginning, but only the beginning, of something new," said a diplomat.

Nato's official policy line is that there is no need for a new agreement or treaty with Russia, because there is already Partnership for Peace, to which Russia is a signatory. The alliance has agreed a parallel dialogue on important questions, though this does not go far enough for Moscow. German, British, French and American ministers have suggested some new form of deal, including a standing committee, but there is no consensus on what it should be and how far it should go.

A letter from President Bill Clinton to Boris Yeltsin will hold out the promise of a wider framework in the future, according to diplomats. Today in Washington, the deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott, and the Russian deputy Foreign Minister, Georgy Mamedov, will meet to discuss the letter. If Mr Mamedov thinks that the letter could help relations, it will be sent to Moscow in the anticipation of an early response.

Before there can be any new moves, alliance and British officials stress that existing deals must be honoured. Russia has still not signed agreements to implement PFP and the special dialogue: it refused last year, saying it was concerned about Nato's rush to bring in new members from central Europe.

The Russian Foreign Minister, Andrei Kozyrev, will be in Paris on 23 March. and It is hoped that he might travel up to Brussels to sign the two deals. Nato sources fear that if Mr Kozyrev does not sign in the next few weeks, the dictates of domestic politics and the forthcoming elections will prevent any progress until next year. The next formal meeting between Nato and Mr Kozyrev is not until the end of May.

Mr Yeltsin has said that he wants to begin talks with the US on a new round of arms control, among other issues. But there is still no agreement on when Mr Clinton and Mr Yeltsin might meet this year. Warren Christopher, the US Secretary of State, has said it is unlikely that the US President will attend commemorations of the end of the war in Europe in Moscow on 8 May, but another venue and time may be found, diplomats say.

Among the toughest problems that the West has to crack before it can begin Nato enlargement is how to ensure the security of states that will not come into Nato, at least for the foreseeable future. In particular, the Baltic countries are very concerned that they will be left out in the cold.

The timing of the new approach towards East-West relations has a certain historical symbolism. It is 50 years since the end of the war and the Yalta summit, which split Europe into spheres of influence. The West is keen that any new deal with Russia should not enshrine any similar carve- up, but should rather ensure the security of states inside and outside Nato. However, any deal is likely to end up by underpinning Russia's role in the former Soviet republics.