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Too early to speak about when Russia-NATO Council is to meet again - Russian diplomat

"We are working on the agenda for a possible meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at an ambassadorial level," - , Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said

MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. No agenda for a possible meeting of the Russia-NATO Council has been agreed as of yet, so, it is too early to speak about the date for such a meeting, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with Russia’s daily Izvestia.

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Moscow says NATO engaged in propaganda accusing Russia of migrant crisis in Europe

"We are working on the agenda for a possible meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at an ambassadorial level," he said. "We will not agree to meet if there is no mutually acceptable agenda of issues that are of interest not only for some NATO members but are of interest for us too. The issue has not yet been agreed, so, it is too early to speak about the dates."

The Russia-NATO Council suspended its meetings after the Alliance suspended military cooperation with Russia from April 1, 2014 over differences in approaches to the Ukrainian crisis. On December 2, 2015, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had taken a decision to resume the work of the Russian-NATO Council. On February 13, 2015, Stoltenberg told the Munich security conference that he had discussed with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov possible resumption of the Russian-NATO Council work.

The migration crisis in Europe

Russia has never used the migration crisis in Europe in its interests, on the contrary, it has been sparing no effort to solve the problems it is rooted in, Ryabkov said.

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Russian Federal Migration Service: EU fails to manage migration processes effectively

"I think the current migration crisis is the consequence of the policy European countries and the United States, as a NATO leader and the leader of the Western coalition, have been conducting in the Middle East," he said. "Now, the path to normalizations is through political solutions to the innumerable problems gripping the region. Russia is working in this direction."

"We have never used the current situation with migrants in our own ‘narrow’ interests," Ryabkov stressed. "It is against the logic of the policy Moscow has been conducting."

The Russian diplomat reminded that Europe is flooded with migrant not only from Syria but also from many other Middle East and North African countries. "This entire enormous region has been destabilized by the ill-considered and erroneous actions first of all of the Western countries and some states of the region," he said. "It will take years, if not decades, to normalize the situation.".

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Foreign policy NATO Sergey Ryabkov

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