" The participation of the Russian delegation in a session of the Council of Euro-Atlantic partnership was necessary and important," said deputy Russian Prime Minister Valery Serov, who led the Russian delegation to the Madrid forum, in an interview with Itar-Tass prior to departure from Madrid. "On the one hand, taking part in the summit enabled us once again to declare Russia's negative attitude to NATO expansion since we proceed from the assumption that the creation of a collective system of security should be reached by means of building confidence and broadening cooperation, rather than building a military potential which will be the result of the admission of new member-states into the alliance. At the same time, we cannot ignore the realities of the present day and therefore, must take part in all European structures, in all programmes aimed at strengthening security and stability on the continent and reaching settlement of global problems such as violence, terrorism and drug addiction," Serov said. In this connection, he stressed the significance of the Madrid summit during which concrete directions were outlined to ensure security not only in Europe, but in the entire space far beyond the continent. During his visit to Madrid Serov handed in a personal message from Boris Yeltsin to the Spanish king and had a series of working meetings with a number of leaders of the CIS and foreign countries. Serov pointed out that he had paid considerable attention to problems of the development of cooperation between Russia and Spain and met Spanish Finance and Economics Minister Rodrigoe Rato and representatives of business circles.