Russia Advocates Co-operation with NATO on European Security

Russia has called for renewed cooperation with the West on European security, two days ahead of the resumption of high-level talks between Moscow and NATO.

"The moment has come to establish conditions for cooperation between the United States and Russia because without such actors as NATO we cannot seriously talk about security and political ideas on the continent," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the sidelines of an OSCE ministerial council in Athens.

Russia has been pressuring NATO to discuss a new European security plan proposed by President Dmitry Medvedev, and presented in final form over the weekend, which he said would finally end Cold War mentalities.

"The basis of this initiative is the intention of forming an indivisible security system in the Euro-Atlantic area" and to reach "a binding accord on European security," Lavrov said in a speech to the Greek-Russian Union.

"We look forward to a precise and constructive response on our initiative," he said. "Russia is not looking to dissolve (existing) European structures and institutions."

Alliance foreign ministers will hold talks on Friday in the highest-level meeting since the NATO-Russia Council was frozen after Moscow's brief war with Georgia in 2008.

Lavrov, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their NATO counterparts are already due to study a road map for closer cooperation at the Friday talks.

Medvedev's draft treaty was also presented to foreign ministers at the OSCE meeting in Athens but several states said it was too early to comment on it.

Reaction to the proposals has been lukewarm in the West.

Ties between NATO and Russia have recently begun to thaw after tensions rose over the war in Georgia and US plans to extend an anti-missile shield into Europe.

On Wednesday, Lavrov noted that Barack Obama's US presidency had "opened possibilities to reassess Russo-American relations on the basis of principles of equality and reciprocal interest."