NATO, Russian ambassadors meet to keep dialogue open
BRUSSELS (AP) - Ambassadors from NATO nations met Wednesday with Russian envoys to explain decisions made at the recent alliance summit in Warsaw and try to reduce tensions with Moscow.
The meeting at NATO's Brussels headquarters follows last week's gathering of alliance heads of state and government in Warsaw. Among other things, U.S. President Barack Obama and the other NATO leaders ordered reinforcements for allies closest to Russia with four new multinational battalions for Poland and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The initial reaction from Moscow has been negative. But both sides have welcomed a Finnish idea on how to reduce chances of an incident between NATO and Russian warplanes in the Baltic Sea region.
Dutch NATO Ambassador Marjanne de Kwaasteniet said Wednesday's session of the NATO-Russia Council, the first since April, will also discuss the situation in Ukraine and Afghanistan.
On Twitter, she said the meeting's purpose was to "keep dialogue with Russia open, despite differences."
In a joint declaration, Obama and the other leaders in Warsaw last week sternly accused Russia of "destabilizing actions and politics," including the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and what they called provocative activities near NATO borders, including repeated violations of NATO countries' airspace.
Moscow has accused NATO of beefing up its forces near Russia and vowed to do what's needed to defend its territory and interests. On Sunday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused NATO of engaging in the "demonization" of Russia and said it was living in a "wonderland" when it imagines a nonexistent "threat from the East."
NATO's supreme commander, U.S. Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, told reporters in Warsaw he'd like to speak regularly with Russian generals to defuse tensions, but hasn't been able to establish contact since he assumed his command in May.
"We've said we're transparent and we're willing to talk, but we've not had that reach-out from them yet," Scaparrotti said.
Foreign ministers from NATO's 28 member countries wanted a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council before the July 8-9 summit in Warsaw, but the alliance wasn't able to reach consensus with the Russians on the agenda and timing. The council was founded as a forum for consultation and cooperation in 2002 when relations between Moscow and the West were much warmer, but didn't convene for nearly two years following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.
The council's April 20 meeting, the first since the Crimean crisis, failed to bridge NATO's "profound and persistent disagreements" with the Kremlin, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.