By Ria Novosty
Moscow : Russia’s newly appointed envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, warned the 26-nation alliance on Friday against discriminating against others in order to ensure its own security.
“They [NATO countries] should understand that no one’s security can be ensured to the detriment of others’ safety,” Rogozin told the Rossiiskaya Gazeta government daily.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree appointing Rogozin, an outspoken nationalist ex-lawmaker, as Russia’s permanent envoy to NATO on Thursday.
The envoy also said he would be faced with political, not diplomatic, tasks in his work, singling out as priorities the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, Kosovo, Iran and Afghanistan.
“The CFE [Treaty] is primarily a matter of trust between Russia and NATO,” Rogozin said. “No sane person, even in his worst nightmare, can imagine us waging war against Europe.”
Regarding other issues, the official also said he was planning to cooperate with a number of Russian ministries and departments in his work. He said the fight against drug trafficking and terrorism would involve close cooperation with the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service.
The Russian envoy also pledged to integrate the Emergencies Ministry into a NATO-Russia emergencies reaction program currently being developed.
Rogozin also promised to turn his attention to issue of patent infringement, citing the widespread abuse of the world-famous Russian ‘Kalashnikov’ brand of automatic weapons as a particular problem.