Russia is ready to unfreeze antiterrorist cooperation with NATO, but it is the alliance that should take the initiative, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said following negotiations with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on March 25.
"We discussed the troubled situation that has taken shape in the area of antiterrorism within the framework of the relationship in the NATO-Russia Council. This activity has been frozen," Lavrov said, at a press conference when asked whether the two had discussed the possibility that the EU's sanctions against Russia could be relaxed or lifted this coming summer.
"We are prepared to unfreeze this area of interaction in the future if our NATO partners make relevant decisions and change their negative attitude toward these forms of cooperation," Lavrov said.
Gentiloni noted, in commenting on Lavrov's remark, that "cooperation between the military and special services should be expanded by engaging Russia."
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