BONN - Germany was upbeat yesterday that NATO could strike a deal with Russia on the alliance's eastward expansion in time for a May 27th summit in Paris.
Mr Karlheinz Hornhues, chairman of the Bonn parliament's foreign affairs committee, said Thursday's meeting between Chancellor Helmut Kohl and President Boris Yeltsin showed Russia no longer saw NATO's plans as a challenge to Moscow. His positive outlook, echoing Mr Kohl's assessment the day before, contrasted with the reserve US officials showed about Mr Yeltsin's statement that disagreements about stationing NATO troops in former Warsaw Pact states could be worked out soon.
NATO rejects Moscow's demand for a treaty barring foreign troops and atomic weapons from the territory of new members like Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, which are expected to be invited to join the alliance this summer.