Russia-NATO civil, military cooperation halts: Russian deputy FM
Xinhua
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addresses a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, April 3, 2019. (Photo: Xinhua)

MOSCOW, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Civil and military cooperation between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has stopped, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Monday.

Russia maintains contacts with individual NATO countries, but not with the entire alliance, Grushko told RT in an interview, which was published on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.

"NATO itself has abandoned a positive agenda in relations with Russia. So far there are no signs that NATO knows how to get out of this impasse," he said, adding that the bloc has "gone too far" in forging confrontation with Russia and it is not yet clear when and where sanity will prevail.

According to him, the military security in Europe largely depends on the state of Russia-NATO relations.

"NATO refused practical cooperation with us in the interests of strengthening security. But there is an objective need to work together to reduce the risks of unintended escalation and prevent incidents," he said.