BRUSSELS — NATO on Thursday said its ties with Russia are improving, despite strains created by the release of confidential US cables regarding the Baltics.The cables released by WikiLeaks disclosed that NATO secretly decided in January to expand a defense plan to cover NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which border Russia. Russia reacted in anger and questioned whether NATO really wants closer ties.But NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday that Russia and NATO don't see each other as a threat.Fogh Rasmussen said they agreed Wednesday to initiate a previously agreed combined missile defense system. He also said an earlier agreement to expand NATO's overland supply route to Afghanistan via Russia has gone into effect.
(photo credit: The Jerusalem Post)