#31 - JRL 2009-231 - JRL Home
Russian security head proposes joint threat analysis with NATO
Interfax
Moscow, 17 December: Russia is proposing carrying out a joint analysis of existing and future threats with NATO, and to hold a dialogue on issues where there are still disagreements.
"We are prepared to jointly analyse existing threats and those threats which emerge in order to assess them and draw appropriate conclusions," Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said in the Kremlin on Thursday (17 December) during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
"Our views on certain events do not always coincide. If we are closer in our views on the situation in Afghanistan, then our views differ on the situation in the Caucasus. Nevertheless we need to exchange opinions, hold dialogue and try to convince each other," Patrushev noted.
"It is important that fully-fledged contact, the fully-fledged work of the Russia-NATO Council, has been restored. Cooperation should benefit both sides," he stressed.
"We are aiming for a constructive approach and to strengthen mutual trust. An absence of dialogue is counterproductive," said the Russian Security Council secretary.
"I would like to discuss our future strategies and approaches for guaranteeing security and a joint overview of challenges and threats," the NATO secretary-general said in response. (Passage omitted)
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