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No Russian-NATO Council meeting planned on sidelines of Munich conference — diplomat

A meeting between the Russian foreign minister and NATO’s secretary general is not ruled out

© AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu

MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. No meeting of the Russia-NATO Council is planned to be held on the sidelines of the Munich conference however a meeting between the Russian foreign minister and NATO’s secretary general is not ruled out, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov told TASS on Tuesday.

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"The issue of a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council is not on the agenda," he said. "Now a possible meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is being looked in. Such a meeting is quite possible, considering the fact that they met last year on the sidelines of the Munich conference and at various international venues."

"However, these meetings cannot substitute for the systemic work within the Council which was frozen by NATO," he said.

He noted though that the possibility of convening the next meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at the level of the permanent representatives was discussed. "But the main thing is not the mere fact of the meeting but its content," he said. "It is necessary to devise the agenda of this meeting. If it is agreed, such a meeting will take place."

"There are no specific timeframes, but we are actively working in this direction," Meshkov said.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said on Friday that a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at the level of the permanent representatives could take place in the near future, adding that there was no thaw in relations between Moscow and the alliance.

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