MOSCOW. Jan 13 (Interfax) - Russia-U.S. missile defense consultations will take place in Moscow and Washington in 2011, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
"[The consultations will be held] by turn, in Moscow and in Washington. Experts are coordinating the schedule, and the consultations will be held although I do not remember the precise dates," he said in reply to an Interfax question.
He recalled an agreement to hold the consultations at the Russia-NATO Council too.
"There is no more U.S. missile defense project in Europe; there is a NATO missile defense project," the minister said.
The presidents of Russia and NATO member countries ordered their governments to discuss the possibility of forming a joint missile defense system before the middle of July.
"We hope very much that the consultations will be successful. Otherwise, there will be tensions instead of a breakthrough," he said.