MOSCOW, April 02. /ITAR-TASS/. Neither Russia nor the NATO countries would gain anything if Russia-NATO joint activity to combat present-day threats and challenges to international and European security were suspended, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Wednesday.

“The decision of the NATO Council at the level of the foreign ministers to suspend cooperation with Russia both on military and civilian aspects creates an effect of ‘deja vu’,” the diplomat said. “The wording of the statement rather reminds us of verbal sparring of the Cold War times, while the decision itself brings us six years back, when Brussels ‘froze’ the work of the Russia-NATO Council,” Lukashevich added.

“It is well known how this ‘freeze’ ended up. NATO initiated a return to cooperation with Russia, stating an ‘all-weather nature’ of cooperation within the framework of the Russia-NATO Council,” he said.

“It is not difficult to imagine who will gain today from suspension of Russia-NATO joint work against modern threats and challenges to international and European security, in particular in such areas as fight against terrorism, piracy, natural and man-made disasters,” the spokesman added. “In any case, surely it won’t be Russia or NATO member countries,” Lukashevich said.