The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has confirmed, on Tuesday, that the Russian president Vladimir Putin intended to travel to Bucharest for a meeting with Alliance leaders at the Summit in April. «We' ve received the confirmation» stated the NATO spokesman, James Appathurai, referring to Putin's decision to accept an invitation for talks with NATO leaders at the April 2-4 event, held in the capital city of Romania.
The announcement that Putin will attend the NATO Summit in Bucharest was made by the Head of the Moscow diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, on Tuesday. «A Russia-NATO Council is scheduled for early April. President Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation to take part at this reunion» said Lavrov in Geneve. The Bucharest meeting will be the first time a Russian leader has taken part in a NATO Summit since Rome in 2002. Vladimir Putin will no longer be Russian president at the moment of his Bucharest Reunion attendance, despite the fact that his official office-leaving takes place in May, after the investment of a new president.
According to the US ambassador to NATO, Victoria Nuland, «Russia is the most awaited participant at the NATO Summit in Bucharest». «We have a lot to talk about in the Russia-NATO Council» she said. The main subjects of the Russia-NATO Council are Russia's moratorium on the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty on Arms Reduction, Russia's response plans to the deployment of some elements of the missile defence shield in Eastern Europe and the Kosovo matter. Not least, aspects related to the growing NATO affinity manifested by former Soviet Republics Ukraine and Georgia will be also addressed. (Source: Rompres)