NATO-Russia Council could resume work at envoy level

BRUSSELS, December 1 (RIA Novosti) - The Russia-NATO Council may resume work, suspended after Russia's five-day military conflict with Georgia in August, at ambassadorial level, NATO's official spokesman said on Monday.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said that talks at ambassadorial level are the only way to improve Russia-NATO relations, strained since Georgia launched an attack on its breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Russia's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said two weeks ago that ambassador-level consultations between the two sides could take place before the end of the year.

Appathurai also said that the foreign ministers of 26 alliance member countries could discuss the Russian president's proposals for a European security treaty at a December 2-3 meeting in Brussels.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev first proposed drafting a new European security treaty at a pan-European conference in early June.

At the time Medvedev said that any new security arrangements should be based on "pure" national interests, not skewed by ideological motives, adding that "organizations operating in the Euro-Atlantic region" should also be allowed to join.

In early November Medvedev said that Moscow would deploy Iskander missile systems in Kaliningrad, sandwiched between NATO members Lithuania and Poland, in response to Washington's missile defense plans for Poland and the Czech Republic.