NATO does not see Russia as an enemy, but as a partner of strategic importance, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Tuesday.
Rasmussen is in Moscow ahead of the Russia-NATO Council summit on November 20 in Lisbon. Medvedev has said he will take part in the top-level talks for the first time since the August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, which soured Russia's relations with the alliance.
"The clear message to the Russian people is that NATO does not see Russia as an enemy, but as a partner of strategic importance. Together we can make the world safer on the basis of trust, confidence and reciprocity," Rasmussen said on his Facebook page.
Rasmussen and Medvedev will discuss the Euro missile-defense project and Russia's possible participation in it on Wednesday.
"I look forward to my meetings tomorrow in Moscow. Time has come for a fresh start in NATO-Russia relations and I'm pleased President Medvedev accepted my invitation to the NATO Summit in Lisbon," Rasmussen said.
MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti)
