Russia freezes military cooperation with NATO

Russia officially notified NATO on Thursday on the suspending of all military cooperation activities it has with North-Atlantic Treaty states, s spokesperson of the Western alliance announced, as quoted by NewsIn. „Russia informed us through military channels that the Russian Federation Defense Ministry decided to stop the military cooperation international events scheduled between Russia and the NATO states, until further instructions”, said Carmen Romero, NATO spokesperson.

Norway, Estonia and Latvia, NATO members, had already announced receiving the same notification.

Russia’s decision comes after NATO decided this week that maintaining normal relations with Moscow is no longer possible until Russia withdraws its troops from Georgia, according with the truce it signed.

NATO and Russia cooperated in areas like the small range missile defense, sea activities, anti-terrorist campaign and academic exchanges. In 2008, Russia and NATO signed an agreement for the transit of non-lethal provisions on Russian soil, towards Afghanistan .

The United States instantly minimized Russia’s announcement, claiming that NATO already had decided to freeze the relations, as a protest to the ongoing military presence of Russia in Georgia.