NATO resumes diplomatic contacts with Russia

Spokesman James Appathurai said NATO's secretary-general and Russia's ambassador to the Western alliance will meet informally Friday--the first such meeting since NATO froze diplomatic contacts in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Georgia in August.

Russian Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin has said previously he would welcome the resumption of ties, but his mission played down expectations for the meeting with Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

"We don't expect anything specific ... but it is a step in unfreezing our relations," said Igor Semenenko, a senior Russian diplomat in Brussels.

Despite the diplomatic freeze, NATO and Russia have continued to cooperate on issues of common interest, such as combating piracy off the Somali coast.

Moscow also has agreed to allow the alliance to use its territory to resupply Western forces in Afghanistan. Attacks on transport convoys in Pakistan by pro-Taliban forces have raised concerns about the security of NATO's main overland logistics route.

NATO foreign ministers agreed two weeks ago to gradually resume contacts with Moscow, starting with informal meetings at a relatively low level, such as Friday's meeting in which Russia is represented only by its ambassador.

They held off on resuming higher level talks, such as the meetings of Russian foreign and defense ministers with NATO counterparts that were held regularly every few months before the split over Georgia.

The decision was a compromise between nations led by Germany who had sought a rapid return to normal relations and the United States, backed by some eastern European NATO members, who were concerned a softer line might encourage Russia to bully its neighbors.

NATO ministers remain critical of Moscow and say the resumption of talks would not mean a return to business as usual for the NATO-Russia Council--a consultative panel set up in 2002 to improve relations between the former Cold War foes.