Russia Assails NATO Over Expansion Plan, Support for U.S. Missile Defense

Sergei Ryabkov, chief of the Russian Foreign Ministry's department for European cooperation, spoke just before Russian President Vladimir Putin sat down for a meeting with NATO leaders on the sidelines of a summit in the Romanian capital.

Ryabkov said Russia's ties with NATO had soured badly over what he described as the reluctance by the West to listen to Russian concerns.

"A culture of searching for solutions on the basis of taking mutual interests into account has been lost," he told reporters.

He strongly criticized NATO's decision Thursday to promise eventual membership to two of Russia's ex-Soviet neighbors. NATO failed, however, to offer the two nations specific membership plans because Germany, France and some other alliance members feared the move would anger Russia.