ANDERMATT, Switzerland - President Dmitry Medvedev, pressing the case for a new European security pact to replace NATO, said Russia's historic role in creating Swiss neutrality showed that it could play a positive role in Europe.
Mutual recrimination and Western distrust of Moscow have so far thwarted Medvedev's idea of forging a new European security architecture to succeed NATO, which Russia sees as an outdated Cold War institution.
Using history to underline his arguments, Medvedev celebrated Tuesday during a visit to Switzerland the anniversary of a 1799 march through the Alps by Russian forces under generalissimo Alexander Suvorov, which drove the French from Switzerland, laying the basis for the country's neutrality.
"It is important to remember that Suvorov carried out this campaign as part of Russia's role in a coalition," Medvedev said after laying a wreath at the Teufelsbrucke bridge over a deep mountain gorge where a dramatic battle took place.
"Just 15 years after that, Russia initiated Switzerland's permanent neutrality and became its guarantor," he added referring to the Vienna congress, which shaped Europe's political landscape after an allied victory over Napoleon.
Medvedev on Monday invited neutral Switzerland to mediate in his efforts to persuade sceptical European states and Washington to sign a new legally binding European Security treaty, one of his top diplomatic initiatives.
Western powers, angry at Russia's five-day war with Georgia last year, are sceptical of Medvedev's calls for a new start, first outlined in a speech in Berlin in June last year.
They are also reluctant to abandon NATO, which they see as a guarantee of security in Europe.
Medvedev is on his way to New York to take part in the U.N. General Assembly and meet U.S. President Barack Obama.
Obama, trying to improve U.S.-Russian ties strained under his predecessor George W. Bush, last week scrapped plans to deploy elements of a U.S. anti-missile shield in eastern Europe, viewed by Moscow as a threat.
Medvedev welcomed the move, and is expected to discuss with Obama progress on agreeing a new pact on nuclear arms cuts to replace the 1991 START-1 treaty that expires in December.
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