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NATO press secretary Yves Brodeur said on Friday that NATO has changed its position on Chechnya and supports the proper use of military force in combating terrorism in the area, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.
NATO admits that Russia faces a terrorism problem in Chechnya and has the right to fight it, in particular by using military force, the secretary told Russian reporters in a televised hook-upfrom NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The United States and other NATO member nations have found, however, that the use of force alone will not resolve such issues, unless a political process is also involved and there is no infringement of human rights, Brodeur said.
Brodeur assured Moscow that NATO's eastward expansion and other activities are not meant to harm Russia.
NATO and Russia are learning to work together, even though their positions do not necessarily coincide, he said, adding that Russia and NATO have common goals, above all in combating terrorism, enforcing nuclear nonproliferation and peacekeeping.
A Russia-NATO Council conference on the role of their military forces in anti-terrorist operations will be held in Moscow on Monday.
(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2002)
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