BRUSSELS, April 1 (RIA Novosti) - Foreign Ministers of 28-nation NATO bloc announced Tuesday a decision to suspend all practical contacts with Moscow following Russia's reunification with Crimea which the West considers "occupation and annexation."
"We have decided to suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation between NATO and Russia," the ministers said in a joint statement.
"Our political dialogue in the NATO-Russia Council can continue, as necessary, at the Ambassadorial level and above, to allow us to exchange views, first and foremost on this crisis," the statement said.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen expressed hope that the suspension would not affect Russia's participation in joint international projects in Afghanistan, such as anti-drug efforts.
He also expressed hope that Russia's maintenance of Afghan air force helicopters and providing a transit route for deliveries of cargo to and from Afghanistan will not be affected.
The ministers will review NATO's relations with Russia at their next meeting in June.
NATO foreign ministers announced that the alliance would intensify its cooperation with Ukraine to "implement immediate and longer-term measures in order to strengthen Ukraine's ability to provide for its own security."
Ukrainian acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia told reporters in Brussels that his country has submitted a request for aid from NATO, which is now under consideration.
He said his country requested NATO members to provide technical equipment for defense purposes but reiterated that Kiev did not ask for weapons. UNIAN quoted him as saying earlier in the day that Ukraine had asked NATO members for "radars and border equipment."
Deshchytsia said a special working group from NATO will visit Ukraine next week to analyze the request together with Ukrainian military experts.
Tensions between Russia and the West rose after the ouster of pro-Kremlin Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February, following months of demonstrations in support of Ukraine's integration with Europe.
Russia's subsequent reunification with Ukraine's autonomous region of Crimea, after a referendum that was later condemned as illegal by the UN General Assembly, triggered the deepest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the end of Cold War.
France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and Norway, all members of NATO, recently voiced their intent to put military cooperation with Moscow on hold.
According to Russian experts, the suspension of military cooperation with NATO will do no harm to Russian interests or security, because the only practical aspect of it was the delivery of cargo to and from Afghanistan.
During the escalation of tensions in March, Russia deployed additional troops in regions bordering on Ukraine for what the Defense Ministry described as regular military drills. Kiev and the West decried the move as preparation for military intervention in Ukraine.
NATO intensified its patrols in the skies over the Baltic Sea area and had reinforced its presence in Poland amid the events in Ukraine.
Updates with Deshchytsia's words
