MOSCOW, September 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia does not abandon cooperation with NATO, is ready to work /with it/ in any formats, within the scope of of the Russia-NATO Council, in particular, Aleksandr Lukashevich, spokesman of Russia's Foreign Ministry, told a briefing on Thursday.

"We have stated more than once that we do not abandon cooperation with the North Atlantic Alliance, and ready to work in any formats, within the scope of the Russia-NATO Council, in particular, and ready to conduct a frank dialogue," the diplomat said.

Commenting on the recent pronouncements by Alexander Vershbow, NATO Under Secretary General, about it being impossible to maintain practical cooperation between the Alliance and Russia unless Moscow begins to meet its international commitments, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed, "Russia has been abiding and continues to abide by the norms of international law and fully meets its obligations to partners".

"However, [NATO's] approach in which cooperation, which, incidentally, has had in principle quite a good record in recent years, is made dependent on a one-sided interpretation of the fulfillment of international-law obligations is, of course, categorically unacceptable," Lukashevich stressed.

The just-ended consultations between Russia and the United States on the implementation of the intermediate and shorter range missile treaty were useful and the dialogue will be continued, the chief of the non-proliferation and arms control department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mikhail Ulyanov, told ITAR-TASS on Thursday.

“The dialogue will be continued in this or that format,” he said. “There are no plans for more meetings at the moment, though. We have many channels for talks and information exchanges. There is the mutual intention to continue discussions.