MOSCOW, June 12. /TASS/. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was the brain-father of mechanisms of interaction between Russia and NATO, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the Rossiya-24 TV channel, while answering questions from journalist Pavel Zarubin.

"He was the initiator of the development of relations between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance. It was with his participation that the relevant mechanisms of interaction were created," Putin said.

He stressed that there were not very many politicians matching Berlusconi’s level in the international area now.

"Certainly, he was a politician of European scale, one might even say, of world scale. There are not very many people like him in the international arena now," Putin stressed.

He described Berlusconi as a great friend of the Russian people and pointed out that he "did a lot to establish business and friendly relations between Russia and the European countries."