NATO's Rasmussen: Relations with Russia improving

NATO’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who is making a tour of three former Soviet Baltic republics – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, on Thursday pointed out an improvement of relations between the North-Atlantic pact and Russia. He said in a lecture at the University of Tallinn that NATO and Russia still differ on many issues but these differences cannot upset the fact that the relations between the North-Atlantic alliance and Russia have seen real improvement. Rasmussen said NATO remains committed to the line at building a strategic partnership with Russia on the principles of security and mutual trust as specified by the agreements the sides reached November 20, 2010 in Lisbon. Earlier in the day, Rasmussen spoke in much the same tonality in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. He said Russia and NATO are not adversaries and they cherish the hope for peaceful cooperation that would bring benefits only to everyone. NATO invites Russia to join an open dialogue on the problems of security and a search for reasonable answers.