Cold War over, Russia is NATO's partner: Merkel

The former adversaries — Russia and NATO — have made a historic step to be closer to each other, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the NATO summit in Lisbon.

The Cold War is really over, she noted yesterday.

At the same time, she suggested not placing too great hopes on new cooperation between the parties at the initial stage.

The chancellor believes cooperation with Russia will become a turning point. The former military adversary at present becomes a partner. It is a change in cooperation that may be described as historic, she noted.

However, Russia and NATO have a long way to go before they reach considerable progress to ensure common security. But the fact that they enter this way is of exceptional importance, the German chancellor stressed.