MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russia-NATO Council may meet ahead of this summer as Moscow and Brussels maintain contacts to organize the security session, a Russian Foreign Ministry source told RIA Novosti on Saturday.
"The Council may take place before the summer, if the relevant work will be carried out. At the moment, the parties are in contact," the unnamed source said.
The source did not disclose a possible timeframe, saying that "substantial" talks have not yet begun.
The NATO-Russia Council was created in 2002 as a mechanism for consultations and cooperation between NATO member states and Russia on a wide range of security issues.
The format was suspended in 2014 amid stained relations over the Ukrainian crisis, in which the alliance accused Moscow of involvement in the conflict.
Russia has repeatedly dismissed the allegations and stressed that NATO's military expansion and increased presence near Russian borders undermines regional security.
