Kremlin Not Optimistic About Relations With NATO, EU
By RFE/RL
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has told a security conference in Moscow that an April 20 meeting of the NATO-Russia Council -- the first in more than two years -- “did not inspire optimism” about the Kremlin’s relations with NATO and the European Union.
Shoigu made the remarks on April 27 at the Fifth Moscow Conference on International Security, which was being hosted by Russia’s Defense Ministry.
Shoigu said it was “not our fault that Russia’s military cooperation with NATO and EU countries has been frozen.”
NATO unilaterally suspended practical cooperation with Russia on April 1, 2014, in response to Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine and its illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
The NATO-Russia Council had been set up in 2002 for handling security issues and joint projects, including nuclear nonproliferation and cooperation against terrorism and international drug smuggling.
The April 20 meeting of the NATO-Russia Council was the first of its kind since April 2014.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was scheduled to meet on April 27 with Lamberto Zannier, the secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The two were expected to discuss the activities of the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, which monitors the cease-fire agreement that is part of the Minsk accords.
Zannier has suggested that he and Lavrov also could discuss Russia's relations with NATO and the EU.
Meanwhile, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan was scheduled to meet with Shoigu on the sidelines of the security conference.
Reports said the two would discuss Tehran's possible purchase of warplanes and tanks from Russia.
With reporting by Interfax, TASS, and Fars
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
In the coming weeks, it's probably a very good idea to keep a close eye on Odesa. Catch the latest Daily Vertical by RFE/RL's Brian Whitmore:
OSCE Chief, Iranian Defense Minister In Moscow For Security Conference
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is scheduled to meet in Moscow on April 27 with Lamberto Zannier, the secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The meeting comes on the sidelines of a security conference in Moscow hosted by the Russian Defense Ministry.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Lavrov and Zannier will discuss the activities of the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, the mission that is monitoring the cease-fire agreement for eastern Ukraine that is part of the Minsk accords.
Ahead of his visit to Moscow, Zannier wrote an article published by the business newspaper Kommersant suggesting that he and Lavrov also could discuss Russia's relations with NATO and the European Union.
Meanwhile, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan was scheduled to meet with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on the sidelines of the security conference.
Reports said the two would discuss Tehran's possible purchase of warplanes and tanks from Russia.