Russia expects its draft European security treaty will help promote the latest initiative, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

The initiative, put forward by President Dmitry Medvedev in June 2008, calls for the establishment of a mechanism to ensure that no one state or international organization can monopolize the peace process.

The draft treaty was posted on the presidential website November 29 and later submitted to European states for consideration.

Lavrov also said Moscow welcomed "signs of a shift for the better in relations with its Western partners."

However, so far the West has been lukewarm to the idea. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen effectively rebuffed Medvedev's project, saying it was not unnecessary.

"I do not see a need for new treaties or legally binding documents because we do have a framework already," he said during his visit to Moscow on Thursday.

He referred to the NATO-Russia Founding Act of 1997, the Rome Declaration of 2002 that established the NATO-Russia Council, and the Charter for European Security.

TASHKENT, December 22 (RIA Novosti)