BRUSSELS, August 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's NATO envoy will hold his first meeting on Tuesday with the alliance's newly appointed secretary-general to discuss steps to normalize Russia-NATO relations.
Dmitry Rogozin will be received by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Danish premier, who replaced his Dutch predecessor Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on August 1 as NATO's 12th secretary-general.
At his first news conference as NATO chief, Rasmussen said he hoped for a "true strategic partnership" with Russia and called for active practical cooperation with Moscow on Afghanistan, international terrorism, piracy and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Rogozin said last week that he hoped "to see a predictable partner in the new NATO secretary general."
Russia-NATO ties have been damaged in recent years by the alliance's eastwards expansion, U.S. plans for a missile shield in Central Europe, and last year's war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia.
