MOSCOW. Jan 26 (Interfax) - No decision has been made by the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) about a possible meeting of Russian and NATO country leaders. "No decision has been made yet by the NATO-Russia Council about the NRC summit. Not the NATO summit in Chicago, but a possible high-level meeting of the NATO-Russia Council. These are two different things. This is why it is obvious that the matter could be considered after the presidential inauguration following the March presidential election," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said at a briefing in Moscow, responding to a question posed by Interfax.
The United States hopes that the Russian president will come to Chicago in May 2012, new U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said on the Ekho Moskvy radio a day earlier.
"As regards the main question in our dialogue with NATO, in the NRC framework, it is certainly the creation of a missile-defense system. And the prospect for convening a NRC summit will largely depend on whether a decision will be reached to move towards a real cooperation in this sphere on the basis of the principles set out in the documents of the NRC Lisbon summit, regarding the creation of a common space of equal security," Lukashevich said.
Commenting on McFaul's statement, Lukashevich said: "A small joking remark: the popularity of the new U.S. ambassador has already gone off scales. No sooner has he arrived, but, on the one hand, it is very good that his presence was commented by the Russian president even before the delivery of his credentials."
Keywords: Russia, NATO - Russia, Nuclear Issues, Missile Defense - Russia News - Russia
MOSCOW. Jan 26 (Interfax) - No decision has been made by the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) about a possible meeting of Russian and NATO country leaders.
"No decision has been made yet by the NATO-Russia Council about the NRC summit. Not the NATO summit in Chicago, but a possible high-level meeting of the NATO-Russia Council. These are two different things. This is why it is obvious that the matter could be considered after the presidential inauguration following the March presidential election," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said at a briefing in Moscow, responding to a question posed by Interfax.
The United States hopes that the Russian president will come to Chicago in May 2012, new U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said on the Ekho Moskvy radio a day earlier.
"As regards the main question in our dialogue with NATO, in the NRC framework, it is certainly the creation of a missile-defense system. And the prospect for convening a NRC summit will largely depend on whether a decision will be reached to move towards a real cooperation in this sphere on the basis of the principles set out in the documents of the NRC Lisbon summit, regarding the creation of a common space of equal security," Lukashevich said.
Commenting on McFaul's statement, Lukashevich said: "A small joking remark: the popularity of the new U.S. ambassador has already gone off scales. No sooner has he arrived, but, on the one hand, it is very good that his presence was commented by the Russian president even before the delivery of his credentials."