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Russia not interested in NATO membership, says Putin
Interfax

Moscow, 22 November: "Russia does not intend to line up to be accepted into NATO," Russian President Vladimir Putin said while meeting members of the Federal Assembly's international [affairs] committees in the Kremlin on Thursday [22 November].

"Russia's economic, scientific-technical, human, military and territorial potential makes it a self-sufficient state that is able to defend itself," the president said.

At the same time, Putin said that now that the situation in the world has changed Russia is willing to "positively and constructively cooperate not only with all countries, but also with international organizations, especially in the security sphere".

"We are ready to bring our positions closer to those of NATO in many areas to the extent to which the alliance itself is ready for this," Putin said. However, "Russia's national interests must also be considered," he said.

Commenting on the results of the summit that recently took place in the USA, Putin said that US President George W. Bush "was very responsive to our ideas on the creation of new mechanisms for making joint decisions and implementing them in the "20" format".

President Bush is willing to discuss these ideas with US and NATO allies.

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