BERLIN (Sputnik) — On July 13, the meeting of the Council was convened in the Belgian capital of Brussels with the crisis in Ukraine and mutual transparency, risk reduction and the outcome of the recent NATO summit on the agenda.
"It is already known that there is a need for the issues of [Russian] military aircraft flights over the Baltic Sea near NATO's borders and the necessity to put an end to approaching NATO's aircraft by them <…> We have proposed for several times that a new meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, which has been held for a second time since April 20, could be used for discussions of technical steps aimed at the de-escalation. And I hope that it is not an end and the discussions would continue," Erler said in an interview.
In April 2014, NATO decided to suspend civilian and military cooperation under the NRC with Russia, however, means of political dialogue and channels for military to military communication remain open, according to NATO's press service.
The Alliance accused Moscow of involvement in the Ukraine conflict, while Moscow maintains that it is not a side in the crisis in eastern Ukraine.
