Everything will be alright

Russia's Permanent Representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said on January 27 in an interview with Interfax that the Russia-NATO Council will soon officially resume its work. On January 26, Rogozin held an informal meeting with the ambassadors of the alliance countries and its Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, which, according to the permanent representative, “opens up the opportunity to continue the political dialogue with the alliance.” A full meeting of the Council at the ambassadorial level could take place before the end of February, since, according to Rogozin, NATO is experiencing problems in Afghanistan and other regions where it will be difficult to cope without Russian help. But if not in February, then certainly in March. On March 5, an informal meeting of the foreign ministers of NATO member countries will take place in Brussels, and the ambassadors must agree on the issue of holding a meeting of the Council with the heads of the Foreign Ministry. It is also possible to resume military cooperation, although the embargo on relevant projects has not yet been lifted. But the discussion of military projects is still a long way off and “will only become possible after contacts take place not at the diplomatic, but at the political level,” Rogozin said. Scheffer's visit to Moscow is possible, and the initiative for the visit, according to the permanent representative, comes from NATO - however, it was planned for the fall, but was, naturally, postponed due to the war in Georgia. On January 26, after an informal meeting with Scheffer and the ambassadors, Rogozin touched upon the most pressing issue in the field of cooperation between Russia and NATO - the operation in Afghanistan. He stressed that there is no talk of any military cooperation. “If we agree to transit through Russia, then these cargoes must be exclusively for non-military purposes. Any attempts to push us now toward military transit are absolutely unrealistic,” Rogozin said.