Russian ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin on Wednesday urged NATO to resume consultations with his country on key issues.
NATO suspended high-level talks with Russia, including the ambassadorial-level NATO-Russia Council, following the military conflict between Russia and Georgia in August.
Rogozin said the situation in the world is such that it necessitates participation of Russia in solving international problems.
"We should not be looking in the past. We should be dealing with today's problems, which abound, and tomorrow's problems," Rogozin told reporters.
He said Russia is expecting a positive signal from NATO at a foreign ministers' meeting in early December. The ball is in NATO's court, he said.
Rogozin complained that NATO allowed Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to address a NATO Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Valencia, Spain, on Tuesday, but denied the Russian side access to the meeting.
"This position of NATO as if it tries to hide its head in the sand like an ostrich cannot be considered to be efficient in achieving progress in our relations," said Rogozin.
He said NATO missed a briefing of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's proposals on a pan-European security architecture as a result of the suspension of the NATO-Russian Council. Now that a summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on this issue has been scheduled for mid-2009, NATO needs to hurry up to book its place if it does not wish to be left out of the process.
Rogozin said Russia's cooperation is needed in the anti-piracy efforts of the international community off Somalia. He said NATO failed to mention Russia's role in a recent engagement of a British frigate with Somali pirates. "A kind word is dear to even a cat," said Rogozin, citing a Russian saying.
NATO has three ships in the area to protect World Food Program food shipments to Somalia and to patrol the seas to deter piracy. The European Union (EU) has decided to begin its own naval operation in mid-December.
Rogozin said the naval operations are not enough. "It is up to NATO, the EU and other major stakeholders to have not a sea operation, but a coastal operation to eradicate the bases of pirates," he said.
He said the Somali piracy issue necessitates cooperation between NATO, the EU, Russia and some African nations.
Source:Xinhua
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