BRUSSELS. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Dialogue with NATO is useful but, unless it helps attain common ground and provides impetus for renewed cooperation, over time the interest in such a dialogue may disappear, according to Alexander Grushko, Russia's permanent representative to NATO.
"But as long as NATO sticks to the positions, approved at the summit in Warsaw, about impossibility of cooperation with Russia being impossible, we won't be able to see the alliance as a potential partner," he told Russian journalists in Brussels on Thursday, commenting on the results of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers..
"Overall, NATO is working on the premise that dialogue should be maintained. I think that is because they realized the danger of having no channels of communication with us. When there is no connection between the two biggest factors that define the state of European security, i.e. NATO and Russia, that is risky. After the two-year pause in the work of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), which took place through the alliance's fault, now the practice of it convening has resumed, and last year, in the second half of it, we already held three sessions," Grushko said.
When asked to clarify whether the NRC will hold meetings this year, he said: "We have not started preparations for an NRC [meeting]. I think it will take place, apparently, in the foreseeable, not too distant future."