NEWPORT (Great Britain), September 3 (RIA Novosti) – NATO does not plan to continue cooperation with Russia while the Ukrainian crisis continues, according to a senior representative of the alliance.
“Russia had closer and deeper ties with NATO than many other partner-countries. This concerned counterterrorism cooperation and information exchange. There was a whole Russia-NATO structure which is no longer operational. Its activity has been frozen, all relations have been frozen,” the representative said at a press briefing Wednesday ahead of the NATO summit in Wales.
The summit, which is scheduled for September 4 - 5 is expected to be attended by leaders and senior ministers from over 60 countries, including US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.
One of the issues that NATO member states will discuss at the summit is the creation of a new infrastructure along the alliance’s eastern border and the modernization of NATO’s response force.
Russia does not intend to participate in any activities of the summit, according to the country’s Permanent Mission to NATO.
The plans on the improvement and modernization of NATO’s response forces have raised concerns in Russia, which has been watching the alliance gradually approach its western borders since the start of the Ukrainian crisis.
