Due to worsening security on the main land route from Pakistan and the expected closure of a U.S. airbase in Kyrgyzstan, NATO has to rely on alternative routes to supply the U.S.-dominated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
"The logistics issue is crucial for the Americans, who continue to build up their military contingent in Afghanistan," Anatoly Safonov, special presidential envoy for international cooperation in the fight against terrorism and transnational crime, said at a news conference in Moscow.
There are 62,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, more than half of them from the United States, and President Barack Obama has pledged to deploy another 30,000 U.S. military personnel to the war-ravaged country.
"We have recently said that our transit route is open and we are ready to search for possibilities of increasing its effectiveness," Safonov said, adding that Russia and the West had been coordinating the supply details and locations of transshipment bases.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that a consignment of U.S. non-military cargos was being prepared in the Latvian capital of Riga for transit to Afghanistan via Russia, and would soon be dispatched.
Russia and NATO signed a framework agreement on the transit of non-military cargos in April 2008.
Despite the recent deterioration in relations with NATO, Russia has continued to support the military alliance's operations in Afghanistan, fearing the worsening security situation and the steadily growing opium production in the country.
Several NATO nations, including France, Germany and Canada, already transport so-called non-lethal supplies to their contingents in Afghanistan via Russia under bilateral agreements.
The "northern corridor" for U.S. transshipments through Russia would likely cross into Kazakhstan and then Uzbekistan before entering northern Afghanistan.
