Allied ministers to relaunch NATO-Russia Council meetings

NATO hopes to benefit from more Russian help with its troubled Afghan operation and other pressing security issues by resuming formal ties with Moscow, suspended after its intervention in Georgia last year, Reuters reports.

Allied Ministers reached agreement today to formally resume the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) meetings, including at Ministerial level, as soon as possible after the Strasbourg/Kehl Summit, the NATO Monitor reports. 

The council was established in 2002 with high hopes for cooperation against terrorism and in crisis management, non-proliferation, arms control, theater missile defense, logistics, civil emergencies and military-to-military links.

"Despite our current disagreements, Russia is of particular importance to us as a partner and neighbor," allied ministers are quoted by the Chinese news agency Xinhua as saying in a declaration issued at a two-day summit marking the 60th anniversary of the bloc.

The ministers said that areas of common interest between NATO and Russia lie in the stabilization of Afghanistan, efforts toward arms control and disarmament, the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, anti-terrorism and fighting drugs-trafficking and anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia.

According to the Xinhua report, the leaders said that they would "assess possibilities for making (the NRC) a more efficient and valuable instrument for our political dialogue and practical cooperation."