MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia is ready for contacts with NATO, but “the ball’s in their court,” though they show no readiness to propose any concrete ideas, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday.
“[Our] Western colleagues know very well of our preparedness to such contacts, but the ball’s in their court, however it seems as though NATO isn’t ready to put any kind of concrete ideas on the table for negotiations, including taking the ‘Ukrainian factor’ into account as well as the upcoming elections in the United States,” Ryabkov told journalists.
Formal contacts and cooperation between Russia and NATO started in 1991, within the framework of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and were further deepened as Russia joined the Partnership for Peace programme on June 22, 1994.
