NATO ready for NRC meeting in near future - Stoltenberg
MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax) - NATO is ready to convene a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) in the near future, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told Interfax in an interview.
"The NATO-Russia Council is part of political dialogue, and we are ready to convene a new meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in the near future," Stoltenberg said.
"We are consulting with Russia on possible dates and on the agenda of the meeting," he said.
Stoltenberg recalled that NATO decided to stop practical cooperation with Russia in the spring of 2014.
"Our practical cooperation with Russia remains suspended, but channels of communication remain open. Especially when tensions are high as they are now, it is important that we continue to use the channels for political dialogue and for military contacts, in particular to avoid incidents," he said.
"We continue to call on Russia to use the channels of communication that we have constructively," Stoltenberg said.
He also called on Russia to use military communication channels in order to avoid incidents.
"I also urge Russia to make use of military channels of communication with NATO. This is vital to ensure that we can communicate at short notice, and to avoid misunderstandings and unintended escalation," he said.
"We have a responsibility to our populations to do everything possible to avoid incidents," Stoltenberg said.
The full text of the interview will appear at www.interfax.com.