BRUSSELS. Dec 7 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia and NATO have agreed to set up a new cooperation body in which all the countries will have an equal say, Russian Defense Minister Igor Ivanov told a briefing in Brussels on Friday.
Russia and NATO have set up a working group of experts that will have until next February to draft proposals on the setting up of a new mechanism for cooperation, he said.
"It is not a question of Russia's admission to the North Atlantic alliance," Ivanov said. "Moscow does not intend to join the line behind other NATO candidates," he added.
Under the understanding reached at the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council meeting, "the questions of the defense and security of Russia and its allies still remain outside the relationship between Moscow and NATO," he said.
However, the fact that Russia and NATO agreed "to launch the process of fundamentally changing the forms and methods of interaction which should result in the formation of a new body fully representing all 20 countries is a crucial turn in Russia- NATO relations," he said.
The name of the new body "has not been determined yet but its essence is clear, it will be a mechanism of drafting and making joint decisions meeting the spirit of time," Ivanov said.
Such a new relationship will boil down to joint responsibility for jointly made decisions," Ivanov said.
"Our mutual steps in this direction should be thoroughly planned," he said. However, "we should move forward without artificial delays," he added. At the beginning of next year Russia and NATO hope "to formulate concrete proposals on the development of the new mechanism and give it with concrete contents," he said.