MOSCOW. Dec 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed the importance of increasing the level of mutual confidence in cooperation with NATO.
For Russia, "the practical aspect of cooperation with NATO is very important: who we will deal with after new members join the alliance," Putin said while meeting with NATO Secretary General George Robertson on Monday. members to NATO] not to promote tension, but to increase confidence," Putin said.
Putin said Russia is prepared to increase the level of its representation in NATO. He believes that political dialogue remains the main means of resolving international conflicts.
"The approaches to the use of armed forces for resolving conflicts faced by the international community have not been determined yet," Putin said. Therefore, "political dialogue is still the most important means of solving these problems."
He expressed satisfaction with the way Russia-NATO relations are developing, noting that Russia and NATO "have started actual work."
Putin said Moscow watched the Prague NATO summit very closely. "You know our position on NATO enlargement, but we have taken note of your statement on the development of NATO-Russia relations and assume that our relations will develop in the spirit of these statements," Putin told Robertson.
Robertson said there are no terrorists in the world who are afraid of declarations alone, and therefore it is necessary to achieve specific results from cooperation in the fight against terrorist. He said the transformation of NATO should increase Russia's confidence in its security.