US wants Russia security pact details before summit

(BRUSSELS) - The United States wants Russia to explain in detail its proposal for a new European security pact and believes it is too early to hold a summit on the issue, a senior US official said Monday.

"It's premature to talk about a summit until we know what the Russians are proposing," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters in Brussels. "There is more work to do."

Russia has called for a new, legally binding security pact in Europe to replace what it says are outdated arms control treaties from the Cold War and to help avoid crises such as the brief war in Georgia in August.

At an EU-Russia summit in France last month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a security summit with Russia under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

"I propose that in mid-2009 we meet in a framework, which could be the OSCE, to lay the foundations of what could be Europe's future security," he said, after talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

"It would not be a conclusive summit, but we could lay the foundations of what could be an accord between us," Sarkozy said then.

The US official insisted that institutions like NATO, the European Union and the OSCE can adequately handle Europe's security concerns and that no new body is needed.

"The institutions that exist are sound," he said. "These are strong enough. I'm not convinced that we need a new architecture."

NATO officials have reacted coolly to Moscow's security pact plans, and have always sought more information. But the alliance's high-level talks with Russia have been frozen since September over the war in Georgia.

A European NATO diplomat agreed with the US stance.

"The first thing the Russians need to do is explain exactly what they have in mind, because it isn't clear," the diplomat said, adding that some of what had been made public "seems to be a rehash of old ideas."