BRUSSELS, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia hopes NATO's new secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, will be predictable, Russia's envoy to the military alliance said Monday.
"We hope to see a predictable partner in the new NATO secretary general and the organization he heads," Dmitry Rogozin told RIA Novosti.
Asked when Rasmussen will visit Moscow, Rogozin said the secretary general intended to visit as soon as possible. "In diplomatic terms this means by yearend," he said, adding that Russia expected specific agreements to be signed during the visit.
At his first news conference as NATO chief, the former Danish prime minister said he hoped for a "true strategic partnership" with Russia.
Rasmussen also said he would like to "convince the Russian people and the Russian political leadership that NATO is really not an enemy of Russia" and that it is "not directed against Russia."
He added that last August's war with Georgia had negatively affected Russia-NATO relations and called on Russia to implement its international commitments regarding its neighbors' sovereignty.
Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia, after Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war last August. Most residents of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have held Russian citizenship for several years.
Georgian forces had attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control. Since recognition of the two republics, Russia and Georgia have had no diplomatic ties.
Rasmussen also called for active practical cooperation with Russia on Afghanistan, international terrorism, piracy and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
