Putin says bigger NATO has not made world safer

RUSSIA: President Vladimir Putin of Russia and NATO's top official agreed yesterday to work together to fight international terrorism. However, the Russian leader warned that the military alliance's expansion to the east would not make the world any safer.

The former KGB chief met Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO's secretary general, just days after seven east European nations joined the bloc, and Belgian fighter jets began patrolling the skies above the former Soviet Baltic states.

"Life shows that simply expanding will not enable us to effectively counter the main threats that we face today," Mr Putin told his guest in the Kremlin.

"This expansion could not have prevented the terrorist acts in Madrid, for example, or help resolve the problems of Afghanistan."

Mr Putin's close ally, Defence Minister Mr Sergei Ivanov, warned last month that a continuation of NATO's "offensive military doctrine" would force Russia to adjust its own military and nuclear strategy accordingly.

Moscow has also complained about the failure of its three Baltic neighbours and Slovenia to ratify an amended version of the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limits the number of troops and weapons in various areas of the continent.

Mr de Hoop Scheffer was at pains to assure Mr Putin that NATO - and specifically the fighter jets patrolling the Baltic region - offered no threat to Russia.

"It is completely logical that Russian planes patrol Russian airspace, and that NATO planes patrol NATO airspace. There's nothing special in that.

"The new NATO nations have no intention or plan to build military infrastructure that is not already on their territory."

After making his reservations clear, Mr Putin admitted that he could do nothing to influence decisions made by former Warsaw Pact members, and pledged to try and improve co-operation between Russia and NATO.

"Each country has the right to choose the form of security it considers most effective," he said, adding that "we hope expansion will foster a strengthening of trust in Europe and around the world, and will be an instrument and component in strengthening international security.

"For this, or course, it is necessary to increase the level of trust between NATO and, in this case, Russia."

Mr de Hoop Scheffer was left with no illusions about the size of the task ahead.

After he was interviewed on the Ekho Moskvy radio station - one of Russia's last major independent broadcasters - a snap poll showed that 71 per cent of listeners viewed NATO expansion as a threat.

"Talking into your microphones and your television cameras shows the Russian authorities and, perhaps even more importantly, the Russian people that I have come on behalf of NATO as a partner," the Dutch diplomat said.