REUTERS
NATO and Russia are to exchange military information via a “hotline” communications link, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergiy Lavrov in Volgograd, according to Ukrainian television channel Hromadske.tv.
"I made a personal effort to that end during NATO foreign ministers’ meeting last year,” Steinmeier said.
“There were, of course, voices against it, who said it would be a ‘concession.’ I think that is the wrong position... [and] I’m very glad we are now restoring that exchange of military data," he said.
According to Steinmeier, contact is needed in the current situation, as some steps may often be misinterpreted, given the crisis in Ukraine.
Military maneuvers have intensified on both sides, and it is important that a hotline exists between the parties for an exchange of information, the German foreign minister said.
Earlier it was reported that NATO would be reestablish its “hotline” communications link with the Russian military in the wake of rising tensions caused by Russia’s invasion and annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, and Moscow’s fueling a separatist insurgency in the east of Ukraine.