ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
November 2, 2004 Tuesday

Good relations with Russia mustn’t hamper ties with NATO-Scheffer

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

Armenia is a proof that a country can have close relations with Russia
and be an active partner of the alliance at the same time, NATO
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told the Mediamax Armenian news
agency in view of his Yerevan visit. He will come to Armenia on Friday.

NATO member countries, Russia and Caucasian republics are interested in
the regional stability, he said. All of them encounter similar threats
from terrorists, who do not recognize borders, as well as proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction and rogue countries, de Hoop Scheffer
said.

He said the countries’ ability to respond to new challenges would
depend on merging of old division lines and prevention of rivalry. The
partnership between NATO and Russia is based on this understanding, de
Hoop Scheffer said.

Armenia really has good relations with Russia, but that must have no
effect on the development of relations with NATO, he said. He said NATO
and Russia had been successfully working to overcome old suspicions in
recent years, and currently they cooperate in many concrete issues
within the Russia-NATO Council.