West would aid Russia against terror

President Vladimir Putin is leading the push to forge new relations with the West

By CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- It's a scenario that could play out in the mountains of Afghanistan: A U.S. military plane on combat mission is hit. The pilot bails out. To his rescue -- a Russian search and rescue crew.

Russian troops in Tajikistan? It's something that President Vladimir Putin -- without specifics -- publically has offered the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition.

But some in Moscow ask: What if Russia itself needed help against international terrorism?

"Russia has to have American guarantees that if Russia becomes the subject -- the object -- of terrorist attacks in the future, it will be entitiled for American help and American protection." says Alexey Arbatov, a member of the Russian Parliament.

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Russia is not a full member of NATO, entitiled to its protections. And Moscow has not asked for specific security guarantees. But the West, nonetheless, says Russia would get help.

"If the Russians have been victims of the same kind of barbaric, appalling attack, then our reaction would be exactly the same. We would offer them help. We expected them to help us because they are the kind of country they are. They would expect us to help and they'd get it," says Mark Laity of NATO.

Western diplomatic sources say Russia's role in the international coalition against terrorism is leading to extraordinarily new and unprecedented forms of military-to-military cooperation.

And it is Putin himself, most observers believe, who's the driving force.

"It looks like now the single liberal in the country and single pro-Western politician is Vladimir Putin who is trying to push Russian military and political elite to understand this new world. It's absolutely clear that the most part of our military elite is absolutely unable to understand these new challenges," says military analyst Alexander Goltz.

Russia, some diplomatic observers say, has been looking for a long-term security partnership with the West. Putin now sees a chance to cement that partnership, and the West is ready to reciprocate.