Putin demands "equal" role with NATO

AFP MOSCOW

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on April 19 that a new NATO-Russia partnership was essential to combat the scourge of global terrorism but insisted that Moscow must be treated as an equal partner.

Putin also stressed the need to cooperate with communist China to ensure global stability, reminding his Western partners that Russia was committed to "friendly relations" with its giant Asian neighbor.

After Kremlin talks with Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, whose country is to host a meeting next month expected to finalize the new forum, Putin said that new challenges required "new mechanisms" of cooperation.

The three main tasks were the global fight against terrorism, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and humanitarian efforts.

In particular the world community needed to unite its efforts to "prevent a repetition of such barbaric acts as those occurred in September last year in the United States," the Russian president said.

"In this respect the role of the NATO-Russia council of 20 may be very important," he added.

However, Putin warned that the council linking Russia and the 19 members of the north Atlantic alliance "will only be effective if all countries taking part in the process are cooperating on an equal basis."

NATO and Russia have been holding protracted negotiations over the joint council between the former Cold War foes, which Moscow hopes will comprise 20 equal members.

Russia has always been dissatisfied with an existing joint forum formed in 1997 in an attempt to allay its concerns over NATO expansion into former Warsaw Pact territory, dismissing it as giving Moscow a purely advisory role.

A meeting of NATO and Russian foreign ministers in Reykjavik on May 14-15 is due to approve a deal over the body, with a formal signature to take place at a NATO-Russia summit in Rome in late May.

The proposed new NATO-Russia relationship would enable the alliance and Moscow to take joint decisions on a range of issues. It would not, however, give the Kremlin the power to veto any possible NATO military action.

The Russian leader also said that Moscow did not want to neglect ties with Beijing despite its new pro-Western focus since the September 11 attacks on the United States, arguing this would benefit global security.

"Russia has friendly relations with countries in another region, Asia, because of its geographical position and the size of its territory. We are developing friendly relations with China," said Putin.

"In the framework of this cooperation, we can build the foundations of global stability by including many different countries," he added.

The Icelandic president meanwhile said he hoped that the Reykjavik meeting next month could transform relations between Russia and NATO.

"We hope the foundations will be laid for a historic agreement between NATO and Russia, which will secure and strengthen peace and security both in Europe and the world," Grimsson said at talks with Putin.

He said Reykjavik was a fitting venue for the May 14-15 summit, where NATO and Russia are expected to approve the new "council of 20", because it had hosted the famous 1986 summit between the U.S. and Soviet presidents, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.