NATO suspends cooperation with Russia over Ukraine crisis

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a news conference at NATO Headquarters in Brussels April 1, 2014. [Photo / Agencies]

BRUSSELS  - NATO Tuesday announced new measures to intensify cooperation with Ukraine and suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation with Russia.

According to a statement released by the foreign ministers from the 28-nation, US-led alliance, the bloc plans to seek closer cooperation with Ukraine and to promote the country's defence reforms through capacity building and capability development programs.

The statement also said that the bloc will reinforce the NATO Liaison Office in Kiev with additional experts.

Meanwhile, NATO decided to suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation with Russia, according to the statement.

"Our political dialogue in the NATO-Russia Council can continue, as necessary, at the Ambassadorial level and above, to allow us to exchange views, first and foremost on this crisis," the statement said.

"We will review NATO's relations with Russia at our next meeting in June," added the statement.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia's actions meant there could be no "business as usual".

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said NATO's future relationship with Russia would depend, among other things, on whether Russia started withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border.

Ministers also ordered military commanders to draw up plans for reinforcing NATO's defences to shore up confidence among the alliance's Eastern European members, including former Soviet republics in the Baltics.

The measures could include sending NATO soldiers and equipment to Eastern European allies, holding more exercises, ensuring NATO's rapid-reaction force could deploy more quickly, and reviewing NATO's military plans. Military planners will come back with detailed proposals within weeks, a NATO official said.