NATO is renewing military-to-military contacts with Russia. This follows from the secretary general's words at a press conference, according to an UNIAN correspondent in Brussels.
“After a long period without any use of the military lines of communications, those lines are now being used, both by the Chairman of the Military Committee [Petr Pavel] and by SACEUR [Curtis Scaparrotti]. And they are both looking into how they can make sure that these lines are functioning and in place.
The NATO Secretary General noted that the initiative [to renew mil-to-mil contacts] was raised at the NATO-Russia Council meeting, and it was aimed to lead to a cooperation process aimed to “agree on concrete measures on air safety over the Baltic Sea.”
“The reciprocal briefings on exercises are important because they are helping to provide more transparency and more predictability, and in times with more military activity close to our borders it is extremely important to avoid incidents and accidents, and if they happen – to make sure they don’t spiral out of control,” said Stoltenberg.
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Stoltenberg stressed that the approach NATO agreed at the Warsaw summit – “defense and dialogue”, not “defense or dialogue” – is an approach which “has proven effective and which has been supported by all Allies”.
The NATO Secretary General also said that in this respect certain results had been accomplished.
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