NATO and Russia to meet, but grievances remain
Russian and NATO envoys are unlikely to ease the worst tensions since the Cold War very much when they meet on April 20 in their highest-level talks on security in almost two years.
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Already bridling at NATO's expansion eastwards into its old Soviet sphere of influence, the Kremlin sees the US-led alliance's new deterrents as a threat. NATO believes Moscow's annexation of Crimea puts Europe's stability at risk and is modernizing to defend itself against an assertive Russia.
The NATO-Russia Council, which was broken off in June 2014 after the Crimea crisis, will meet in Brussels to discuss Ukraine, Afghanistan and how to avoid military accidents that might lead to war.
"We are not afraid of dialogue," said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who will chair the talks with the alliance's 28 ambassadors and Moscow's envoy to NATO, Alexander Grushko.
While the West and Russia remain at odds over eastern Ukraine, where more than 9,000 people have been killed in separatist fighting that NATO accuses Moscow of backing, the meeting is a sign of willingness to improve relations.
