NATO says Russia not ready to schedule meetings on missiles

"NATO made it clear in the meeting that we are ready to schedule a series of meetings addressing a wide range of different topics, including missiles and reciprocal verifiable limits on missiles, in Europe," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference. "From the Russian side, they made it clear that they are not ready," he said after a meeting of representatives of the defence alliance with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko in Brussels.

NATO told Russia on Wednesday that it was ready to schedule a series of meetings on a range of topics, including limits on the use of missiles in Europe, but Moscow made it clear they were not ready for such a step, the Western alliance's chief said. "NATO made it clear in the meeting that we are ready to schedule a series of meetings addressing a wide range of different topics, including missiles and reciprocal verifiable limits on missiles, in Europe," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference.

"From the Russian side, they made it clear that they are not ready," he said after a meeting of representatives of the defence alliance with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko in Brussels. However, Stoltenberg said the two sides had a frank and open discussion on a wide range of issues and the meeting was useful.