Russia Interested in Resumption of Previous Military Programs With NATO

Russia is interested in carrying out a non-politicized review of the previously active NATO-Russia joint military programs and their further resumption, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia also wants to exchange information with the alliance on the terrorist threat in Europe, he said.

"The Russian side is interested in organizing a non-politicized review of previously existing military programs in the format of Russia-NATO Council for the purpose of resumption of their implementation, as well as the exchange of information and assessment of the current terrorist threat in Europe, in particular, to counter Daesh," Antonov told the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

The NATO-Russia Council was created in 2002 as a consultative mechanism. NATO suspended all practical civilian and military cooperation with Russia after the Ukraine crisis broke out in April 2014.

The first Russia-NATO Council meeting since the relations deterioration, held at the level of permanent envoys, took place on April 20 but failed to yield any significant results due to the sides’ disagreement on a number of geopolitical issues. One more meeting of the Council at the ambassadorial level was held in the Belgian capital of Brussels on July 13.