Russia agrees to cooperate on NATO's program to defend against ballistic missile attacks

Russia agrees to cooperate on NATO's program to defend against ballistic missile attacks

PanARMENIAN.Net - NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a NATO summit in Lisbon that Russia has agreed to cooperate on NATO's program to defend against ballistic missile attacks.

"For the first time the two sides will be cooperating to defend themselves," Mr. Rasmussen said.

The Lisbon summit has been redrawing NATO's focus to face new challenges.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said of the summit: "A period of very difficult, tense relations has been overcome."

This is the first NATO summit Russia has attended since the Russia-Georgia war two years ago.

NATO members had earlier agreed on a program to develop and deploy defenses against ballistic missile attack on their territories.

Mr. Rasmussen said he had extended an offer to Russia to cooperate on the program and was "very pleased that the Russian President has taken up that offer".

Mr. Rasmussen said this agreement was of "real political importance" and a "true turning point".

There would be an exchange of information on the threats to European skies, he said, and the two sides "could conceivably cooperate on shooting down an incoming missile".

Mr. Rasmussen said: "The NATO nations and Russia have today agreed in writing that while we face many security challenges, we pose no threat to each other."

He said Russia had agreed to allow more supplies to travel through Russian territory to support NATO's mission in Afghanistan and to allow equipment out as well, BBC reported.

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