NATO Offers Russia ‘Special Partnership’

NATO agreed Wednesday to offer a “special partnership” to Russia as a way of overcoming its objections to joining the alliance’s new military cooperation program for former Warsaw Pact foes.

Details were sketchy on what the special arrangement would entail, although it was clear it would enable Moscow to have close consultations with the allies on security matters and other issues.

The special relationship would be separate from the Partnership for Peace program, which was approved at a January summit of President Clinton and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders as a way mainly to draw former Warsaw Pact adversaries closer.