Rasmussen says NATO, Russia bound to cooperate with each other

WASHINGTON, May 12 (Itar-Tass) -- NATO and Russia "have an obligation
to cooperate", NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
More than 60 years after its creation, NATO remains the vital link
between the United States and Europe in protecting and promoting the core
values of American and European civilisation - freedom, democracy, human
rights, and the rule of law.
"Our relations with Russia also play an important role in that
equation," he said in a speech titled "NATO and Russia: why cooperation
counts" delivered at the University of Chicago on Wednesday, May 11.
"I know that Russia is still seen in some circles as our former Cold
War foe. But it has been a longstanding, strategic objective of NATO to
help create a Europe that is whole, free and at peace. We have made great
progress, but we are not there yet. And I maintain that Russia plays a
key role if we want to achieve it," he said.
Rasmussen admitted that "when the Cold War ended, we may have had
false expectations about each other. Some in the West thought that Russia
would align its interests with ours. And many in Russia thought that,
since the Warsaw Pact had dissolved, NATO should too".
Both these expectations proved to be plain wrong. They hampered the
relationship between NATO and Russia for a long time. They even brought
it close to a complete standstill, he stressed.
"Ironically, at the same time, the case for broader, more solid
NATO-Russia cooperation became more and more compelling. Because the
threats to the security of our nations increased all the time - both in
number and in complexity," the Secretary-General said.
Among the global threats he named terrorism, fragile states, piracy,
the proliferation of nuclear weapons -- these are all global threats that
affect all nations. "There is no way for any single nation, not even the
world's most powerful nation, either to escape these threats, or to tackle
them on its own," he said.
In his opinion, "the best way to meet them is through the broadest
possible international cooperation. NATO and Russia have a vital stake in
that cooperation - and a major responsibility for driving it forward."
At the same time, he acknowledged that "we don't always see eye to
eye".