Brussels – NATO ambassadors will meet their Russian counterparts on April 20, the military alliance said on Tuesday.
The talk is being held almost two years after such high-level talks were put on hold over Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg announced last week Friday that the meeting would take place in the coming weeks.
He warned that there would be no return to business as usual until Russia respect international law.
NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Moscow after the annexation of Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula.
Ambassadors and ministers from the two sides had not met in the NATO-Russia Council since June 2014, although there had been some other political and military contacts.
The meeting next week will focus in part on the crisis in and around Ukraine, including the need to fully implement the Minsk peace deal for eastern Ukraine, the alliance said.
Other issues included NATO and Russian military activities, with a view to increasing transparency and reducing the risk of possible incidents and the security situation in Afghanistan.
A push for resuming high-level contacts with Moscow gained momentum last year after the downing of a Russian jet by NATO member Turkey.
Many NATO countries are keen to avoid such incidents in the future.
But member states in Eastern Europe, which are geographically close to Russia and threatened by its actions in Ukraine, have been wary of a return to business as usual with Moscow. (dpa/NAN)