Lavrov hopes strategic partnership between Russia, NATO

Moscow is counting on the reinforcement in the common focus of a true strategic partnership during the NATO-Russia Council meeting (NRC) in Sochi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday. The meeting will take place later on Monday in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is to meet with NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on the sidelines of the Russia-NATO summit later on Monday. "I am confident that the upcoming meeting with Russian President [Dmitry Medvedev] will give a new impulse to cooperation in various fields on egalitarian basis, will strengthen the fabric of relations between Russia and NATO in the fight against common real security challenges, striving for common objectives on the basis of coordinated approaches," Lavrov said. The November 20 summit of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) in Lisbon, Portugal, resulted in three critically important military decisions. The sides have agreed to cooperate in Afghanistan, decided to resume Theatre Missile Defense Cooperation, and agreed that they pose no threat to each other, which gives one hope that they will eventually create a European security system that suits both sides.