Russian General Staff Chief General Valery Gerasimov and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe General Curtis Scaparrotti plan to meet before the end of April to discuss the prevention of military incidents amid rising tensions, a diplomatic source in Brussels said.
"Preparations for a meeting between General Gerasimov and General Scaparrotti are about to complete, the meeting is set to be held later in the month," the source said, adding that the focus will be on ways to prevent military incidents caused by a possible misunderstanding of military actions taken by Russia and NATO. "Such contacts are particularly important amid rising tensions," the source noted.
However, sources in NATO’s Brussels headquarters and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Mons declined to confirm the time and agenda of the upcoming meeting, stressing that NATO sought to maintain military contacts with Russia.
"NATO and Russia maintain open military-to-military lines of communication, which are intended to promote predictability and transparency in our military activities. In that context, General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, and General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and First Deputy Minister of Defense, had a telephone conversation on March 21, 2018. The conversation demonstrates a clear mutual interest to maintain the military lines of communication, in line with NATO's policy of transparency and dialogue," TASS cited a NATO military official as saying.
The press service added that "any future interactions will be announced in due course."
