Russia,NATO give green light military& political contacts

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CORFU, Greece, June 28 (Itar-Tass) - Russia and NATO have given green
light to the restoration of political dialogue and resumption of military
cooperation, Russia's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said late on Saturday,
as he commented the results of a ministerial meeting of the Russia-NATO
Council, the first after the last August event in South Ossetia.
"In fact, the level of this meeting was higher than ministerial
because it was attended by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and
the Prime Minister of Greece Konstantinos Karamanlis," Rogozin went on to
say.
Silvio Berlusconi told the Council members how it was formed and
reminded those present about the basic principles fixed in the Declaration
of Rome adopted in 2002 when the Russia-NATO Council was formed.
Russia and NATO agreed to exchange information on a new concept of
Russia's national security and a new strategic concept of the alliance.
In his speech at the meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
said that Russia would brief |NATO on Russia's new national security
concept and would expect NATO to do the same.
Rogozin said that NATO had responded immediately. On July 7 the
Russian envoy to NATO will be invited to attend an internal seminar of
high-ranking NATO experts who are responsible for developing the alliance'
s strategic concept.
"We noted and appreciated the alliance's readiness to dialogue. We
will take our return step on July 22 when a representative of the Russian
Security Council arrives in Brussels to participate in a meeting of the
Russia-NATO Council at an ambassador level. He will brief the alliance on
a new concept of Russia's national security," Rogozin went on to say.
Russia and NATO agreed to resume military and political contacts, and
this is another vital outcome of the Corfu meeting.
"A political will to resume military cooperation was expressed
today," Rogozin emphasized, commenting on the outcome of a ministerial
meeting of the Russian-NATO Council that was held in Corfu. That was the
first ministerial meeting since last year's events in South Ossetia.
"Now the forms of this cooperation will have to be agreed. It may be
struggle against pirates, the resumption of Russia's participation in
anti-terror Operation Active Endeavour in the Mediterranean or various
forms of field cooperation, " Rogozin went on to say.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will present his conclusions
and ideas to Russia's political leadership.
Rogozin also noted that despite chilly relations over the past 11
months Russia and NATO continued cooperation on Afghanistan. That,
according to Rogozin, proves that Russia and NATO understand that they are
facing common security challenges.
Rogozin hopes that Russia and NATO will one day hold a profound
discussion on last August events in South Ossetia.
"Let's hope that after some time the Russia-NATO Council will hold a
discussion on the events in Southern Caucasus because this conversation is
absolutely necessary. It's vitally important to get rid of all double
standards," Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's envoy to NATO, told Itar-Tass on
Saturday.
Rogozin has been urging to hold a special meeting of the Russia-NATO
Council on the last August crisis in South Ossetia ever since the Council
resumed its work at the ambassador level on April 29, 2009. He believes
that top military experts from Russia and NATO should get together to have
a detailed analysis of the last August crisis in South Ossetia.
Rogozin has stressed many times that NATO is shrinking away from any
debates proven by facts and arguments and is confining itself to "rubber-
stamp" replies about "disproportionate use of force by the Russian side."

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