Ex-Nato head says Putin wanted to join alliance early on in his rule

George Robertson recalls Russian president did not want to wait in line with countries that don't matter'

Vladimir Putin wanted Russia to join Nato but did not want his country to have to go through the usual application process and stand in line with a lot of countries that don't matter", according to a former secretary general of the transatlantic alliance.

George Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary who led Nato between 1999 and 2004, said Putin made it clear at their first meeting that he wanted Russia to be part of western Europe. They wanted to be part of that secure, stable prosperous west that Russia was out of at the time," he said.