NATO, Russia to hold Council meeting next week

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday announced in a statement that NATO will hold a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at Ambassadorial level with Russia next week.

The meeting will take place on July 13 at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, shortly after the NATO Summit in Warsaw.

"The NATO-Russia Council has an important role to play as a forum for dialogue and information exchange, to reduce tensions and to increase predictability. Our practical cooperation with Russia remains suspended, but we are keeping channels for political dialogue open," said NATO chief.

The discussions will focus on the crisis in and around Ukraine and the need to fully implement the Minsk Agreements, according to the statement.

"We will also look at military activities, with a particular focus on transparency and risk reduction, as well as the security situation in Afghanistan," added Stoltenberg.

In April, NATO allies and Russia held a "frank and serious" discussion at a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council after it had been suspended for almost two years in light of the Ukraine crisis.

The NATO-Russia Council, which was established in 2002, was conceived as a mechanism for consultation, consensus-building, cooperation, joint decision and joint action. Endit