MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- The European nations will never achieve full security without the cooperation of Russia, Germany's defense chief said Saturday.
"Our continent cannot achieve security without Russia," German Defense Minister Peter Struck told the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy or Wehrkunde. He was reading a speech written for, and approved by, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. But Schroeder could not attend because of an attack of influenza.
Struck called close European and Western security ties with Moscow one of the "essential principles of European politics" echoing Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's 19th century admonition to future German leaders to always keep open the telegraph lines to St. Petersburg.
The European nations, Struck said "are staking on genuine strategic partnership with Russia. The Russia-NATO Council exemplifies the chances for partnership in security policies."
