NATO invites Putin to April summit

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend an alliance summit in Bucharest in early April, a NATO spokesman said on Wednesday.

If Putin accepts, it will be the first time a Russian leader has attended a NATO summit since the 1992 Rome meeting that launched the existing NATO-Russia partnership format.

"It made sense in terms of clearing the air ... there is a lot to discuss," the spokesman told a news conference of the reason for inviting Putin, referring to differences with Moscow on issues ranging from Kosovo to the U.S. missile shield plan.

The spokesman said the Kremlin had yet to reply to an invitation letter sent in recent days.

Russia's newly appointed envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, confirmed Moscow had received the invitation, but he did not say if Putin would accept, Interfax news agency reported him as saying.

The prospects of a meeting depended on "the degree of relations" between Moscow and the alliance on key issues, Interfax quoted him as saying.