NATO Reiterates Disagreements with Russia over Georgia

NATO reiterated having “disagreements in principle” with Russia over Georgia as foreign ministers from the Alliance met with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in frames of NATO-Russia Council (NRC) in Brussels on April 19.

“We also discussed those areas where we continue to have disagreements of principle – Georgia is one such issue, where NATO maintains its support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in his opening remarks at a news conference after the meeting.

Alliance’s plans to build a missile defense shield in Europe “is another issue where we have not found an agreement yet,” Rasmussen added.

NRC Chairman’s written statement said that “ministers also discussed existing differences on key issues”, but the statement does not go further into details on differences.

Rasmussen said at the news conference that since setting up of the NATO-Russia Council ten years ago, the Alliance and Moscow made progress in some areas and in others “we moved slowly, but in overall we have moved forward.”

Rasmussen also said that NRC was a valuable venue for discussing “all issues at all times and while dialogue is not always easy, we continue exploring options.”