Russia wants no surprises from new Nato chief
Russia calls for "predictable partner" in new Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen
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A committee of MPs have claimed that the government's military strategy in Afghanistan is flawed and troops are not getting the level of support they need. |  |
Monday, 03, Aug 2009 05:19
By Matthew Champion.
Russia has called for a "predictable partner" in new Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The former Danish prime minister made his bow today as the secretary general of the alliance, and Moscow expects him to fly in for talks before the end of the year.
"We hope to see a predictable partner in the new Nato secretary general and the organisation he heads," Russia's Nato envoy Dmitry Rogozin told the RIA Novosti news agency.
For his part, Mr Rasmussen said he wanted a "true strategic partnership" with Russia.
In his first public address as Nato secretary general he said he wanted to "convince the Russian people and the Russian political leadership that Nato is really not an enemy of Russia".
But the words are likely to set alarm bells ringing in central and eastern Europe, where former Soviet satellites are already uneasy at increasingly conciliatory dialogue towards the Kremlin from the White House.
Last year's invasion of Georgia sparked the worst crisis in relations between Russia and the west in decades, something Mr Rasmussen's predecessor Jaap de Hoop Scheffer failed to reverse before leaving office.
Beginning his five-year tenure at the head of the alliance, Mr Rasmussen reiterated a commitment to the war in Afghanistan and making Afghans responsible for their own country.
"We will support the Afghan people for as long as it takes," he said. "But this means helping them stand on their own feet."