The NATO-Russia Council is set to meet on January 12, the alliance’s press service has told news agency TASS. It will take place two days after talks between Moscow and Washington begin in Geneva.
Russia suspended cooperation with NATO last October, after the organization expelled eight of Moscow’s diplomats from the country’s mission in Brussels. It accused them of engaging in undercover espionage activities, without providing any evidence to back up the claim. Moscow, in response, said the move was part of an attempt to hype up the ‘Russia threat’ agenda.
Next week’s summit has been convened by the bloc’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg. He is also the chair of the NATO-Russia Council, which was established for direct communication back in the early 2000s. Its fate has remained uncertain in recent months.
The council has not met since 2019 and relations between Europe’s largest country and the alliance have barely functioned since after the 2014 ‘Maidan’ in Ukraine, and subsequent crises in Crimea and Donbass.