NATO, Moscow Squabble Over War Games That Are To Take Place Near Each Other's Borders



RFE: NATO-Russia Council Meeting 'Useful' Despite 'Fundamental Disagreements'

BRUSSELS -- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has characterized the latest session of the NATO-Russia Council as a "frank and useful discussion" of Ukraine, Afghanistan, and risk reduction.

Stoltenberg made the comments at a press conference following the July 13 meeting, saying that NATO and Russia "continue to have fundamental disagreements," particularly regarding Russia's 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea and its role in the war in eastern Ukraine.

NATO and Russia also briefed one another on upcoming military exercises -- Russia's Zapad-2017 and NATO's Exercise Trident Javelin 2017. Stoltenberg said Russia had in particular provided numbers of its soldiers, planes, and ships involved in the Zapad war games in Russia and Belarus in September -- an exercise that has deeply worried the allies.

Stoltenberg said such voluntary exchanges were encouraging, but "do not substitute for the mandatory

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