Russia's Putin to attend NATO summit: agencies

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend a NATO summit in April, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies on Tuesday.

The Bucharest meeting will be the first time a Russian leader has taken part in a NATO summit since Rome in 2002.

"President Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation to take part," RIA news agency quoted Lavrov as saying during a visit to Geneva. "This yet again testifies to the fact that Russia is open to dialogue on any issues."

Relations between Russia and the alliance have soured in recent years, with Russia accusing NATO of triggering a new arms race by beefing up its military presence on Russia's Western borders.

Other irritants include Russia's decision to suspend its compliance with the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) arms treaty, and the plans by NATO member the United States for a missile defence shield in eastern Europe.

Moscow would like "to seek generally acceptable solutions both in terms of the CFE treaty, in missile defence and in other problems of collective security", Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

Putin had already called for co-operation between Russia and the West to counter proliferation risks, Lavrov was quoted as saying by RIA news agency.

"We're convinced that the trilateral Russian, American and European format contains huge potential in all spheres, linked to safeguarding security and stability," Lavrov was quoted by RIA as saying.

Russia wants strong ties between "all three centers of European civilization, but of course, relations within this triangle can only be honest and equal", Lavrov was quoted as saying by RIA.

Asked if Putin would be attending the April 2-4 summit, a NATO spokesman in Brussels said: "For the moment we have no confirmation."

Putin leaves office in May after his successor is elected in March.

(Additional reporting by Mark John in Brussels)

(Reporting by Conor Sweeney and Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Richard Meares)