August 22, 2008	Friday	Sha'aban 19, 1429

BRUSSELS, Aug 21: Russia informed Nato on Thursday that it is halting military cooperation, an Alliance spokeswoman said, announcing the latest twist in the spiralling relations between Moscow and the West.“We have received the notification from the Russians though military channels and they say that they have decided to halt international military cooperation events between Russia and Nato countries until further instruction,” spokeswoman Carmen Romero said from the Nato headquarters in Brussels.

“We take note of the Russian decision,” she added.

Almost immediately the White House warned that there could be no Russia-Nato military cooperation until the crisis in Georgia has been “resolved.”

“I can’t imagine a circumstance right now that we would engage in military cooperation with the Russians until the

situation in Georgia is resolved,” US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters in Washington.

In a further sign that Nato-Russia cooperation ties have stalled, a Russian official said the head of Moscow’s mission to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, was heading back home for consultations.

Rogozin had been holding near-daily press briefings in which he belittled Nato and accused Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili of ethnic cleansing, likening him to Hitler, Stalin and Saddam Hussein.

“Right now it is too early to make confirmation that all military cooperation has stopped,” the Russian official in Brussels said.

“Mr Rogozin will be in Moscow for consultations with our leadership and after that we can confirm or refute.” the reports, he added.

The Nato spokeswoman recalled that Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had already said that it “cannot be business as usual with Russia” as long as Moscow keeps its troops in Georgia.

Scheffer told reporters after a meeting of Nato foreign ministers on Tuesday that Nato-Russia Council meetings would be placed on hold until Russia adheres to the terms of an agreed ceasefire deal with Georgia requiring both sides to move troops back to their positions before Georgia launched an offensive on the separatist region of South Ossetia.

“We are not abandoning the Nato-Russia Council but as long as Russian forces are occupying a greater part of Georgia, I cannot see a Nato-Russia Council convening at any level,” he said then.

“We... cannot continue with business as usual... as long as Russia does not commit to the principles upon which we agreed to base our relationship.”

The normal joint Nato-Russia military activities include training and exercises, military logistical cooperation, missile defence activities, naval cooperation, military exchanges and search and rescue at sea, the spokeswoman said.

The Russian navy has already announced it was cancelling its participation in naval manoeuvres planned in the Baltic Sea as part of its partnership with Nato, and said it was currently “not considered possible” to host the US naval frigate Ford.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier on Thursday that Moscow is not planning to “slam the door” on Nato, but the alliance must choose partnership with Moscow over support for Georgia.—AFP