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NATO, Russia agree to resume military-to-military contacts

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-28 10:57

CORFU: NATO and Russia have agreed to resume their military-to-military contacts, which have been frozen since the Russia-Georgia military conflict in August 2008, NATO Secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Saturday.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer attends a press conference after the NATO-Russia foreign ministers' informal meeting in Corfu, Greece, June 27, 2009. [Xinhua]

"We restarted our relations at political level. We also agreed to restart military-to-military contacts, which have been frozen since last August," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters at the end of a NATO-Russia foreign ministers' meeting.

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Lavrov also said the two sides have agreed to re-launch military-to-military contacts.

De Hoop Scheffer said he did not exclude the possibility that Russia would allow NATO to transit lethal weapons to Afghanistan via Russian soil. But he stressed that the two sides have yet to go into specifics of military-to-military cooperation.

Russia is now allowing NATO to transit through its territory non-lethal goods only.

De Hoop Scheffer said cooperation on the fight against piracy off Somalia is another area for cooperation as both NATO and Russia are conducting anti-piracy operations in the region.

The NATO chief also expressed the hope that Russia would send warships again to participate in NATO's naval campaign to protect energy supply routes in the Mediterranean.

NATO and Russia should cooperate on Afghanistan, counter-terrorism, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and counter-narcotics, he said.

De Hoop Scheffer proclaimed the NATO-Russia Council, under which the foreign ministers are meeting, is up and running again. "The NATO-Russia Council leaves Corfu stronger."

NATO suspended high-level political contacts with Russia after the Russia-Georgia military conflict. Saturday's ministerial meeting has been the highest-level political contact between the two sides since then.

De Hoop Scheffer said the Georgia issue is no longer a stumbling block in NATO-Russia relations although the two sides still have fundamental differences.

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