Putin to discuss Nato membership with Blair

Russian President Vladimir Putin is to discuss with Tony Blair establishing closer Russian ties with Nato - and even the prospect of membership of the alliance.

The Russian leader announced his intention at the end of an EU-US summit in Brussels, saying he wanted to raise the question when the British Prime Minister visits Moscow soon.

Mr Putin said Nato itself had acknowledged that it was changing from a military enterprise to a more political one, adding: ‘‘If that is so, it would change things considerably: Russia could become more comprehensively engaged than it is now.’’

Mr Putin said he had already discussed the issue with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and would be discussing it in detail with Mr Blair soon.

And he said US President George Bush was ‘‘positive’’ about it.

The new global co-operation on against terrorism, reinforced yet again today at the EU-US summit, has helped speed up a process which has been gradually evolving since Nato decided to expand its membership to take in former Warsaw Pact countries - the West’s old ‘‘enemy’’ during the lengthy Cold War.

Mr Putin was speaking after signing a new deal with the EU to step up security co-operation drastically by holding monthly EU-Russia meetings instead of the usual twice-annual information exchanges.