MOSCOW, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Russia will let NATO take armoured vehicles to Afghanistan through its territory under an expanded transit deal that would reduce reliance on volatile Pakistan, its foreign minister said on Thursday.
"The transit applies to armoured vehicles with anti-mine protection," Sergei Lavrov told a news briefing with his Afghan counterpart Zalmay Rasul. The transit agreement stops short of opening the Russian route for weapons for the NATO mission in Afghanistan, where Moscow fought a disastrous war that cost the lives of about 15,000 Soviet troops and still haunts Russia.
Rasul said Afghan President Hamid Karzai was planning a visit to the Russian capital in January 2011. Karzai has sought improved ties with Moscow, and asked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on his last Russian trip in August for help in establishing peace and stability.
(Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel, writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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