Nato Resumes Ties With Russia

by Rachel Nixon | March 5, 2009 at 09:15 am

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Nato ministers have agreed to resume high-level talks with Russia - six months after ties were frozen over the brief war between Russia and Georgia.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced the decision after Lithuania dropped its objections to work resuming within the NATO-Russia Council, the body that directs cooperation between the two sides on security issues.

"The ministers reached agreement to formally resume the NATO-Russia Council including at ministerial level ... as soon as possible after the NATO April summit," said de Hoop Scheffer."

"Russia is a global player. Not talking to them is not an option," he added.

Earlier U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, attending her first NATO summit, pressed for a fresh start to relations with Moscow.

But she said the door to alliance membership must be kept open for ex-Soviet Georgia and Ukraine. Moscow strongly opposes their membership of the U.S.-led military alliance.

Russia welcomed Nato's willingness to resume ties - but said the decision to restart the Nato-Russia Council could only be made on a joint basis.

"This decision is a step in the right direction, and we note with satisfaction that common sense has prevailed at NATO," Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Lyakin-Frolov told RIA Novosti.

Scheffer had also said NATO was ready to discuss a proposal by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the establishment of a new European security system.

On Wednesday, Russia's envoy to the military alliance, Dmitry Rogozin, said the work of the Russia-NATO Council could resume later this month. He also said the "period of estrangement" in Russia-NATO relations is "largely behind us."