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07Oct21

NATO ready for dialogue with Russia, to convene Russia-NATO Council — Stoltenberg

NATO is ready for a dialogue with Moscow, including convening the Russian-NATO Council, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday, adding that he discussed this with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the UN headquarters in New York in September but was unable to reach an agreement.

"NATO’s position on approach to Russia is consistent and clear. We base it on a dual-track approach towards defense and dialogue. We are ready to engage in a meaningful dialogue with Russia. We are also ready to convene a NATO-Russia Council meeting. We have actually invited Russia for now a long time. So far, Russia has not responded positively and therefore there hasn’t been any meeting in the NATO-Russia Council," he said.

Stoltenberg noted that it is important to "sit down and talk," especially "when times are difficult, tensions are high."

"And therefore we will continue to strive for a meaningful dialogue with Russia," Stoltenberg said, noting that he met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in September, but was unable to negotiate a new Russia-NATO Council meeting.

On Wednesday, NATO announced that it was cutting the Russian Mission to NATO from 20 to 10 people: the accreditation of eight diplomats was withdrawn, while two vacant positions were eliminated. The Russian diplomats were given until the end of October to leave Brussels. Commenting on this decision, Stoltenberg claimed on Thursday that the expelled diplomats were "undeclared intelligence officers".

[Source: Tass, Brussels, 07Oct21]
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