John Tanner

As a tenuous cease-fire between Russian and Georgian military forces in Georgia held over the weekend, U.S. Rep. John Tanner, D-Tennessee, was among those focused on the next response from the U.S. and its European allies.

The Union City Democrat is chairman of the U.S. delegation to NATO’s parliamentary assembly. He’s also been a vocal advocate for the evolution of NATO beyond its Cold War origins.

“NATO is important more so now than it was during the Cold War. And this may be the classic example,” Tanner told The Daily News during a stop Friday in Memphis. “The way to handle this situation is diplomatically and economically with the Russian government. NATO is the vehicle I think that can have the most effect in that regard.”

Tanner was among those who approved a NATO communiqué canceling an economic and security symposium next month that would have involved Russian officials. Some joint level naval exercises between NATO countries and Russia also have been called off.

“Those things are concrete examples of our more than displeasure,” Tanner said.

“This could have been a very, very serious situation. Had Georgia become a member of NATO, under Article 5 all (NATO members) are pledged to defend one another from actions of this type.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said the conflict sets back U.S.-Russian relations 15 to 20 years. He warned one of the casualties of the military action could be the G-8 (Group of Eight) international coalition that includes

Russia and the U.S. and the largest countries in the European Union in terms of population.

“This adjusts our relations with Russia in a big way. It sets back the efforts of three presidents to try to bring Russia into a different role in world affairs. I don’t think the United States has the option of dealing with this in a military way,” Alexander told The Daily News over the weekend.

“But the diplomatic consequences will be great – whether Russia participates in the G-8 or whether the G-8 dissolves and leaves Russia out – the relationship of NATO to Russia now and our responsibilities to NATO countries. It changes the world in an important and a disturbing way.”

Russian officials describe the conflict, which resulted in Russia sending troops into the one-time Soviet republic, as a move by Russia to stop violence between Georgians and Ossetlians after Georgian armed forces moved to take part of the separatist Ossetia region.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has called the Russian military move a “Russian occupation.”

Russian leaders announced they had halted military action in Georgia a week ago. A French-brokered truce took shape and the Bush administration called for the withdrawal of Russian troops with that agreement.

But the day that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Georgia to secure the agreement, Russian military forces moved closer to Georgia’s capital. They remained there over the weekend even as Russian leaders signed the truce.

Rice’s next stop after Georgia was to talk with NATO leaders in Brussels.

“I think we need to defuse it and I think the best way to do that is to utilize the NATO organization,” Tanner said. “Unilaterally I’m not sure how much effect (the U.S.) can have.”

Alexander said Russia’s potential membership in the World Trade Organization is also imperiled because of the military moves. He also said NATO involvement represents a step back for the alliance of nations involved in it.

“NATO was created to begin with, people would say, to keep Germany down and Russia out. This puts us back 20 years to sort of the old view of NATO where we’re really an antagonist with Russia rather than moving along toward a more constructive relationship,” he said.