MOSCOW, March 3, (APP/AFP) – Senior Russian and NATO
military chiefs on Friday held their first phone talks since
ties between the two sides collapsed over the crisis in Ukraine,
the defence ministry in Moscow said.
The chairman of the NATO Military Committee Petr Pavel
called Russia’s chief of staff Valery Gerasimov to discuss the
possible restarting of military coordination and avoiding
clashes, a statement from the ministry said.
“This is the first high-level military contact since the
NATO council took the decision to freeze relations with Russia,”
it said.
“The two sides exchanged opinions about current security
issues, the prospects of reestablishing military cooperation
and avoiding incidents.”
Moscow said Gerasimov used the opportunity to complain
about “the significant increased military activity of the alliance
near the Russian border.”
NATO headquarters in Brussels confirmed the talks and said
“active military to military lines of communications are in the
mutual interest of NATO and Russia and they remain open.”
“The two generals agreed that they would remain in contact,”
it said, without giving any details about what was discussed.
NATO is beefing up its presence in eastern European allies
badly rattled by a more assertive Russia following the seizure of
Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014.