"Russia cannot be ruled out of NATO" - Kwasniewski

In his speech at the National Defense University in Washington yesterday, during a two-day official visit to the US, President Aleksander Kwasniewski said that he could not rule out the possibility of Russia joining NATO. This, according to Kwasniewski depends largely on Russia itself. Kwasniewski also said he saw Poland joining the euro zone in around 2006-2007. "Our goal is to reach, within 10-20 years, the social and economic level of Spain," he explained. The president's first official meeting during his visit was with Vance D. Coffman, chairman of Lockheed Martin - producer of the F-16 fighter plane and winner of the Polish air force tender, but by far the most important point on the agenda is today's meeting with US President George W. Bush. The two leaders will discuss the US-Iraq conflict. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 8; Rzeczpospolita, p. A1) J.K.