MOSCOW, Dec 9: President Vladimir Putin urged NATO on Monday to deepen cooperation with Russia, warning that the alliance’s expansion bringing it to Russia’s borders should not be allowed to damage mutual trust.

In talks with NATO Secretary General George Robertson, who took part in a meeting of the NATO-Russia Joint Council in Moscow to discuss the role of armed forces in fighting terrorism, Putin said practical measures were needed.

For Russia “the practical aspect of cooperation is absolutely crucial — whom we will be dealing with after the arrival of new members in the alliance,” Putin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

“We want to ensure that the consequences of this event (NATO’s eastward expansion) does not have a negative impact but increases trust,” he added.

Robertson earlier assured that NATO had no intention of “becoming the world’s policeman” and said that cooperation between the former Cold War foes in the global fight against terrorism can provide the framework for a new international security order.

“NATO cannot go it alone. Perhaps the clearest lesson of the past decade is that transnational security threats can only be met with multinational security cooperation,” he told the joint council meeting.

“This is an era when Russia and the member states of NATO finally set aside their mutual suspicions and outdated stereotypes and became serious about joining forces,” Robertson added.

The October theatre hostage-taking in Moscow by Chechen separatists was “the latest symptom of a disease that is spreading through the international system,” the NATO chief continued.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said that the increasing scope of global terrorism had caught the international community off guard.

“International terrorism, stretching from the Balkans and the North Caucasus to Central and South Asia and further on to the Philippines and Indonesia, threatens stability not only within countries but also in entire regions as well as international security,” he said.

NATO issued membership invitations to seven former Communist republics at a summit in Prague last month, expanding the military bloc up to Russia’s borders by 2004 in a move that had been heavily opposed by Moscow.—AFP