NATO, Russia to hold first talks since Skripal attack

Brussels: NATO will on Thursday hold its first formal talks with Russia since the nerve agent attack on a former Kremlin double agent in Britain, as the alliance seeks to counter Moscow’s increasing assertiveness.

Tensions between the transatlantic alliance and Russia have hit post-Cold War highs in recent years over Moscow's annexation of Crimea and more recently the attempted assassination of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the British city of Salisbury. 

NATO vehemently criticised Moscow over the attack in March, the first hostile use of a nerve agent in Europe since World War II and expelled seven Russian diplomats as part of a coordinated international response. 

“A meeting of the NATO-Russia Council will take place on 31 May 2018,” a NATO official said. “This is part of NATO's twin-track approach of strong defence and meaningful dialogue with Russia.” 

The meeting -- the seventh of the NATO-Russia council in the last two years -- will be held at the alliance’s brand-new headquarters in Brussels and is expected to cover the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, where Moscow is accused of backing pro-Russian separatists in the restive east. 

Transparency around military exercises is also expected to be discussed. 

At the last meeting in October, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said alliance members had challenged Russia over its controversial “Zapad” drills which caused concern in Poland and the Baltic states.