NATO member states will hold another round of formal talks with Russia next week, an alliance official said Thursday, as relations remain strained by the conflict in Ukraine.
"A meeting of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) at ambassadorial level will take place on 13 July at NATO Headquarters in Brussels," an official said.
The official declined to give details of what might be discussed by the 28 member state ambassadors and their Russian counterpart.
The NRC met regularly until the Ukraine crisis plunged relations with Moscow into the deep freeze in 2014 but they resumed early last year after months of debate within the alliance over whether to meet would send the wrong signal to Moscow.
Since then, it has convened four times, the last in March when the ambassadors discussed the situation in Ukraine where Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and continues to back pro-Moscow rebels in the east.
They also discussed measures to avoid possibly dangerous misunderstandings after a marked increase in military activity on both sides driven by the fallout from the Ukraine crisis.
US-led NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Russia over its role in Ukraine but kept political channels of communication open.
NATO member states will hold another round of formal talks with Russia next week, an alliance official said Thursday, as relations remain strained by the conflict in Ukraine.
“A meeting of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) at ambassadorial level will take place on 13 July at NATO Headquarters in Brussels,” an official said.
The official declined to give details of what might be discussed by the 28 member state ambassadors and their Russian counterpart.
The NRC met regularly until the Ukraine crisis plunged relations with Moscow into the deep freeze in 2014 but they resumed early last year after months of debate within the alliance over whether to meet would send the wrong signal to Moscow.
Since then, it has convened four times, the last in March when the ambassadors discussed the situation in Ukraine where Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and continues to back pro-Moscow rebels in the east.
They also discussed measures to avoid possibly dangerous misunderstandings after a marked increase in military activity on both sides driven by the fallout from the Ukraine crisis.
US-led NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Russia over its role in Ukraine but kept political channels of communication open.
