BRUSSELS, October 18. /TASS/. NATO regrets Russia’s decision to suspend the work of diplomatic missions in Brussels and Moscow but remains open for dialogue, including through the Russia-NATO Council, at the same time continuing its policy toward containing Russia, NATO Spokesperson Oana Lungescu told TASS on Monday.
"We have taken note of the decision by Russia to suspend the work of its diplomatic mission to NATO, and of NATO’s Military Liaison Mission in Moscow, and to close down NATO’s Information Mission in Moscow. We regret these steps. NATO’s policy towards Russia remains consistent. We have strengthened our deterrence and defense in response to Russia’s aggressive actions, while at the same time we remain open to dialogue, including through the NATO-Russia Council,"
"The NATO-Russia Council remains an important platform for dialogue. NATO proposed to hold another meeting of the NATO-Russia Council over 18 months ago, and that proposal stands. The ball is in Russia’s court," she said.
The last meeting of the Russia-NATO Council was held in Brussels on July 5, 2019. No more meetings have been called ever since due to the absence of any agenda for discussion.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier on Monday that Russia is suspending its permanent mission to NATO from November 1 in response to NATO’s decision to revoke the accreditation of eight staffers of the Russian mission. Apart from that, Russia is suspending the NATO Information Office in Moscow and the NATO Military Liaison Mission Moscow starting on November 1 because Russia sees "no reason to continue to pretend that any changes [in relations with NATO] are possible in the foreseeable future," Lavrov said.
On October 6, NATO announced the reduction of the Russian mission from 20 to 10 people and revoked the accreditation of eight diplomats. Two more open vacancies were eliminated. The Alliance said the Russian diplomats are to leave Brussels before the end of this month.