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Welcoming Mr Robertson, Mr Putin said that Russia’s improved relationship with NATO had brought a qualitative change to its relations with the entire Western community. The President said such changes met Russia’s national interests and accorded with its foreign policy strategy.

He noted that although many problems were still unresolved the main thing was that Russia and NATO were increasingly feeling like partners and needed each other.

Mr Robertson said he was grateful that Russia supported the alliance’s efforts to achieve settlement in Afghanistan and allowed its military aircraft to use Russian airspace to fly to that country. He said it was a solid example of how to act to bring Russia’s and NATO’s positions closer together to help counter modern challenges.