President Putin has appointed nationalist politician and firebrand Dmitry Rogozin to represent Russia at NATO.
Dmitry Rogozin is the former head of the Rodina, or Motherland party, for which he has served as a Duma Deputy. The 43-year-old ex-Deputy will replace 57-year-old general Konstantin Totsky. Experts say the move means that the Kremlin is seeking to observe Russian interests carefully in talks with NATO. «[NATO] is something whose existence we have to accept. It's an interesting story: we have a working relationship with all the individual countries. But when they get together it's a problem for us,» Rogozin commented after his appointment. Rogozin’s appointment has already been approved by NATO and the Russian Parliament.