NATO – Russia Council, Brussels, 20 April 2016

The NATO-Russia Council (NRC) was conceived in 2002 as a mechanism for consultation, consensus-building, cooperation, joint decision and joint action. Within the NRC, the individual NATO member states and Russia have worked as equal partners on a wide spectrum of security issues of common interest.

Following Russia’s illegal military intervention in Ukraine and its violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, in April 2014 the Alliance suspended all practical cooperation between NATO and Russia including in the NRC. However, the Alliance agreed to keep channels of communication open in the NRC and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council at the Ambassadorial level and above, to allow the exchange of views, first and foremost on this crisis.

In April 2016, almost two years after the last meeting of the NRC, NRC members agreed to convene a meeting to take place in Brussels on the 20 April 2016. The discussions looked at the Ukraine conflict, military activities and Afghanistan’s security.

• Primary Source

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