NATO Secretary-General George Robertson won the assurance of closer ties during a trip to Moscow, the first visit here by a senior NATO official since relations were ruptured last March.

"The chilly period should come to an end," Robertson said. "I hope we will reinstate a lot of the military connections we had before," he told NTV television after talks with Russian leaders including acting President Vladimir Putin.

"What both sides want is greater international security," Robertson said.

But Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said the restoration of full ties would depend on "both sides' readiness to respect the conditions laid down" in the Russia-NATO cooperation charter signed in 1997.

It was also evident there was a still a long way to go from the warning issued Wednesday by top Russian general Leonid Ivashov in Geneva against the United States trying to "dictate" the world's affairs, which he said could lead to another "very dangerous Cold War."

Relations have been sour ever since Moscow, furious at the launch of NATO air strikes against its traditional ally Serbia in March last year, expelled the Atlantic alliance's envoys and suspended relations.

Further tension has been fuelled by Moscow's military campaign in the separatist republic of Chechnya, which has caused thousands of civilian deaths according to Russian human rights groups.

Russia has insisted it will not resume formal ties with NATO unless the Alliance grants it an equal role in resolving international crises.

"We want the decisions taken to promote European and international stability. If we continue to move along those lines, the relations between Russia and NATO will develop successfully," Ivanov told the Russian press.

"The developments in Yugoslavia significantly undermined trust between Russia and NATO. It is important to restore that trust and define fields where cooperation is essential," he added.

Putin, whose meeting with Robertson was described as "frank and constructive," said Moscow was ready to develop its relations with NATO but "after the events in Yugoslavia, these questions are difficult to resolve."

General Ivashov, the head of international relations at the Russian defence ministry, also said at the Geneva conference that the United States and its allies "see the entire planet as a sphere of vital interest."

But Robertson waxed optimistic, saying his visit to Moscow marked a "turning point" in the relationship between NATO and Russia. Cooperation between their armed forces was key to strengthening global peace, he added.

The breakthrough visit came after nearly a year of Moscow aiming barbed rhetoric at the Alliance over NATO's .

NATO's go-it-alone stance over its 11-week bombardment of Serbia to end the repression of the mainly Albanian province of Kosovo infuriated Moscow, which was already smarting over NATO's expansion eastwards in Europe to include former Soviet satellite states the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland as new members.

In a joint statement, the two sides said they would "pursue a vigorous dialogue on a wide range of security issues that will enable NATO and Russia to address the challenges that lie ahead and to make their mutual cooperation a cornerstone of European security."

Talks under the auspices of the NATO-Russia permanent joint council will urgently tackle the two sides' strategic and military doctrines, disarmament programmes as well as the thorny Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, Ivanov said.

Moscow is locked in conflict with Washington over US plans to amend the 1972 ABM Treaty in order to build a nuclear umbrella over the United States.

Despite its recent sharp rhetoric, Russia has continued to participate alongside NATO forces, with almost 5,000 troops in peacekeeping forces in Kosovo and Bosnia. But this is as far as cooperation extends currently.

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