The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Russia are mutually interested in enhancing cooperation, former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen claimed.
“I think we have a mutual interest in cooperating and cooperating even closer than we do”, Rasmussen said.
The former secretary general noted that when he took office in August 2009, he made it one of his priorities to develop what he called “a strategic partnership between NATO and Russia.”
“I believed that this partnership could further develop until February-March 2014 when resident Putin attacked Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea into the Russian Federation,” Rasmussen stated.
He noted that he had to change his mind after that and adapt to the new security situation in Europe.