MUNICH, Germany - NATO said on Saturday a new Russian military doctrine identifying NATO expansion as a threat did not reflect the real world and undermined efforts to improve ties between the Western military alliance and Moscow. Russia was angered by NATO expansion to include former Warsaw Pact states after the collapse of the Soviet Union and was particularly incensed by the alliance's promise of eventual membership to Georgia and Ukraine, former Soviet republics Moscow still considers part of its sphere of influence. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approved the new military doctrine on Friday. "I have to say that this new doctrine does not reflect the real world ... NATO is not an enemy of Russia," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich. "It does not reflect realities and it is in clear contradiction with all our endeavours to improve the relationship between NATO and Russia." The doctrine identifies one of the "main external threats of war" as NATO's expansion east to Russia's borders, and sees U.S. plans to create an ant -missile shield in Europe as a concern for national security. Rasmussen said NATO was keen to develop a strategic partnership with Russia and to expand cooperation in Afghanistan, where the two sides share security concerns. He said he would stress these issues in a meeting in Munich with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "I have urged Russia to step up their engagement in Afghanistan. I have presented proposals to the Russians when I visited Moscow in December as to how they could further their engagement," Rasmussen said.
