Brussels/Moscow - NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen is to make his first trip to Moscow in his new job, according to Russia's Interfax news agency Wednesday.

Rasmussen, who took over as head of NATO in August, will be in Russia from December 15-17 for meetings aimed at improving relations between the Western military alliance and the Kremlin.

Relations reached a low following last year's war between Georgia and Russia over the disputed enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

According to Russia'a ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, ties between the two are now undergoing a "significant boost", however.

Rogozin also confirmed that Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend a meeting of the NATO-Russia council on December 4.

Fogh Rasmussen has said that establishing a strategic partnership with Russia is one of his priorities as NATO secretary general.

He took over the post from Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who had previously visited Moscow in June 2007.

Copyright (c) 2009 Deutsche Presse Agentur. All rights reserved