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Vice President Pence said he came to Munich bearing a message from President Trump.“I bring you this assurance - the United States of America strongly supports NATO and will be unwavering in our commitment to this transatlantic alliance.”
The Vice President repeated calls for European allies to keep their NATO commitment of spending two percent of GDP on defense.“The President of the United States expects our allies to keep their word,to fulfill this commitment and for most that means the time has come to do more.”Ahead of the conference, much of the focus had been on relations between Washington and Moscow.
“But regarding Ukraine, we must hold Russia accountable and demand that they honor the Minsk agreements,beginning by de-escalating the violence in eastern Ukraine.And know this, the United States will continue to hold Russia accountable,even as we search for new common ground which as you know President Trump believes can be found.”
Listening to that was Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, he said the world was at a moment of change.“The responsible leaders have to make a choice.I hope that they will choose a democratic and fair world order, you might want to call it a post-West one.”
Lavrov rejected Western accusations of military aggression and denied Russia had tried to influence the U.S. election.“Which kind of relations do we want with the U.S. Pragmatic relations with mutual respect and acknowledgement of our responsibility for global stability.”
The hot topic here in Munich is the future of U.S.- Russian relations but the two visions still seem very far apart:from the Russian view of a post-West world order to the U.S. Vice President’s vision of a reinvigorated NATO.
In Ukraine, a front line of east-west tensions Saturday marks the anniversary of the Maidan Uprising,which led to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.Fears over the U.S. commitment to the transatlantic alliance have been soothed in Munich.But the sense of crisis in Europe remains strong.
Henry Ridgwell, for VOA News, Munich, Germany.
