A top Russian security official on Tuesday backed an overhaul of Moscow's relations with NATO following swift political changes that have brought Russia and the West closer.
The remarks by Vladimir Rushailo, secretary of President Vladimir Putin's advisory Security Council, followed a call by British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday for Russia and NATO to set up a new cooperation body and boost ties.
"Russia and NATO are rethinking their relations, and to do that they need a new mechanism and new forms of cooperation," Russian news agencies quoted Rushailo as telling reporters on a trip to Paris.
NATO Secretary-General George Robertson was due in Russia on Wednesday for a three-day visit aimed at forging a new and deeper relationship between Moscow and the 19-member alliance after the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.
Putin threw Russia's weight behind US President George W. Bush's "war on terrorism" and helped secure for Washington bases in ex-Soviet republics bordering Afghanistan.
Blair's call for closer ties came days after Putin returned from a friendly summit in the United States, a sign Washington was probably on board.
"We are grateful to NATO leaders and Mr Blair for the proposals they make to lift relations between Russia and NATO to a qualitatively new level," Rushailo was quoted as saying.
"How exactly it will be achieved we will see in the near future. Today we can only say with certainty that the relations will be changing and it is obvious to everyone," he said.
During his visit to Russia, Robertson will tour Moscow and Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad where a bloody World War Two battle was fought, and meet officials including the defence and foreign ministers. Russian media have said he will also meet Putin.
Putin called Blair on Saturday to discuss the British premier's proposals, which also included closer cooperation in fighting terrorism, control of weapons of mass destruction and prospective joint military operations.
Russia's ties with NATO have gained new momentum under Putin after going into deep freeze over the bloc's 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia and its eastwards expansion plans which continue to worry Moscow.
Rushailo said enlisting new members at Russia's border appeared "illogical" given that most NATO countries, including the United States, no longer saw Moscow as an adversary.
He also took further an idea floated by Putin that Russia could itself one day join the alliance, saying existing procedures when aspirants had to wait to be allowed in were unacceptable for Moscow.
"Russia cannot take a place in a queue for NATO and wait for its application to be considered," he said.
(China Daily November 21, 2001)
