NATO-Russia Council First Step for Talks at Higher Level - Stoltenberg

The next NATO-Russia Council meeting at ambassadorial level, set for July 13, is the first step to assess the possibility of holding the meeting at ministerial level, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Warsaw NATO Summit 2016 will take place on July 8-9, with members of the alliance set to discuss increasing military activities on NATO's eastern flank.

The next Russia-NATO Council will be held in the Belgian capital of Brussels on July 13

"We have met with Russia at ambassadorial level, we did that in April we will do that next week… I think now we have to focus on our next meeting at ambassadorial level and then we have to take this step by step assessing whether we also should aim for a meeting at higher level, at ministerial level," Stoltenberg said during a press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda ahead of the NATO Summit in Warsaw.

Since 2014, NATO has been building up its military presence in Eastern Europe, using Moscow's alleged interference in Ukraine as a pretext for the move. Moscow has repeatedly denied the claims and warned NATO that the military buildup near Russia’s borders is provocative and threatens the existing strategic balance of power.