MOSCOW ( 2008-03-28 15:18:22 ) :
Russia is ready to help Nato on Afghanistan, provided that Moscow's security interests, including a halt to eastward expansion of Nato, are respected, Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Friday, Interfax news agency reported.
Russia is "considering the possibility of deepening" co-operation with Nato over Afghanistan, but this will not happen "if each other's lawful security interests are not taken into account," the official, Alexander Grushko, told Interfax.
He highlighted Nato expansion plans -- with ex-Soviet Georgia and Ukraine high on the waiting list -- as a key security concern of Moscow.
"Further steps toward realising Nato's 'open doors' policy does not strengthen the security of Nato itself, nor the security of countries declaring their intention to join the alliance, nor, moreover, the security of Russia," Grushko said.
"This project is from the political past, and does not concern the real security demands of our day," he said.
Grushko spoke just days before the April 2-4 Nato summit in Bucharest, where President Vladimir Putin will be attending.
Topping the Nato agenda will be the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and discussions on possible expansion of the 26-nation alliance to include former Soviet republics Georgia and Ukraine -- a possibility that has infuriated Moscow.
Nato has been negotiating with Russia over the possible use of Russian and Central Asian territory to send supplies for the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
But Grushko denied press reports that Moscow was bargaining with Nato to offer help in Afghanistan in return for Nato denying Georgia and Ukraine Membership Action Plan status, which clears the way to membership.
"There is no trade-off and there cannot be one," he told Interfax.
