MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st December, 2022) A period when Russia participated in NATO summits does not exist anymore, however the alliance needs to maintain communication with Moscow, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.
"For many years NATO strived for a more constructive relationship with Russia, for a dialogue with Russia. I was Prime Minister when President(s of Russia Vladimir) Putin and (Dmitry) Medvedev attended NATO summits... That world doesn't exist anymore," Stoltenberg said answering questions at the Berlin Security Conference.
He added that "a meaningful dialogue with Russia has been smashed" due to the conflict in Ukraine, but NATO still needed to maintain contacts, since cooperation with Moscow is part of the security architecture in Europe.
"At the same time we need to maintain military lines of communications to prevent escalation, to prevent incidents," Stoltenberg said.
He noted that NATO needed to "continue to engage with Russia on issues like arms control," adding that "minimum of contact" should be kept.
In December 2021, Russia proposed draft agreements on security guarantees for NATO and the United States, requesting that the alliance would not expand eastward and will not incorporate Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries. On January 2022, the US and NATO officially rejected Russia's proposal,� stressing that the alliance would not change its stance on the right of sovereign nations to join the bloc. Following this deadlock, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in February.�
