MOSCOW. Nov 23 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who took part in President Putin's meeting with NATO Secretary General George Robertson on Friday, told reporters after the meeting that "one is talking not about Russia's full-fledged entrance into NATO, but about improving the quality of our partnership."
Ivanov and Robertson said that both sides have done a lot to continue the dialogue on the creation of new mechanisms of Russia-NATO cooperation.
Both cooperation formulas will be taken into account in the development of Russian-NATO relations, both the "20" formula (the NATO countries and Russia) and the formula "19 plus 1," they said.
Robertson and Ivanov said that the question is which formula best suits the task that the partners have at the moment.
The NATO secretary general recalled that NATO is not taking part in any operations in Afghanistan, only some NATO countries led by the U.S. are operating there.
Robertson believes that the UN can use NATO for organizing humanitarian aid deliveries to Afghanistan. Russia and the countries that border on Afghanistan could also be involved in this, Robertson said.