Moscow and NATO in reset mode

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is in Brussels for the first formal Russia-NATO Council meeting since the war in South Ossetia in August last year.

The meeting carries hopes for a “reset” of relations between Russia and the alliance, relations which have been frozen for almost a year and a half.Three documents are the focus of the discussion: a road map for the development of relations between Russia and NATO, an instruction to ambassadors to carry out the first joint analysis of security threats, and a plan for upgrading the efficiency of the Council.“All three documents have been agreed upon and are awaiting approval by the ministers. The Russian approaches were taken into account,” Russia's Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday.Moscow is insisting on the reformation of the Russia-NATO Council. As Rogozin noted, the aim is “to reject political bureaucracy in favor of practical work – in particular, by creating separate dialogue formats at the level of experts for each cooperation vector, first and foremost, in Afghanistan.”Preparations for the first visit to Russia by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on December 15-17 will also be highlighted at the meeting.