"What can we do about it? A referendum in Slovenia is not something we can oppose. However, the Dutch ambassador to Nato, Herman Schaper, maintained a more reserved line. The US ambassador to the alliance still hoped "all our Nato allies" would ratify the accession of both Albania and Croatia in time for the summit. Slovenia's potential referendum on Croatian Nato accession is also likely to come up at the ministerial meeting on Thursday at the Nato headquarters, meant to set out the main issues for the upcoming anniversary summit of the alliance from 2-4 April in Strasbourg and Kehl.
She is also scheduled to participate in a public debate with European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering on Friday. On Friday, Ms Clinton is due to meet her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Geneva for their first bilateral meeting since the Obama administration took office.īefore traveling to Geneva, Ms Clinton will meet European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, as well as the Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, on behalf of the EU presidency. In a possible sign of Russian-US warming, Moscow reported on Tuesday that a first train with US supplies bound for Afghanistan had crossed its territory and was currently located in Kazakhstan. "It's good, because several months ago we were getting different signals - that the decision has been made, there is nothing to speak about, that we have done everything as we have decided," Mr Medvedev said. However, he did appreciate the American readiness to "discuss the issue" of the shield which the previous Bush administration considered a done deal. On the same day, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said the Kremlin was working closely with the US on the Iranian file, but not in the context of the missile defence shield. "To the extent that we are lessening Iran's commitment to nuclear weapons, then that reduces the pressure for, or the need for a missile defence system," he explained. "What I said in the letter is what I have said publicly, which is that the missile defense that we have talked about deploying is directed toward not Russia, but Iran," Mr Obama said after meeting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday (3 March). Ms Clinton will likely also be faced with questions regarding the planned US missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic after reports that President Barack Obama sent a secret letter to Moscow offering to back down from the project in return for Russian support against Iran's nuclear programme. Renewed commitment to the Nato operation in Afghanistan, which the Obama administration has put high on its agenda, is set to dominate the talks. The informal get-to-know-each-other meeting will also see non-Nato foreign ministers from Finland, Sweden and non-EU nation Switzerland attend.
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