Russia, NATO content with progress in relations - Rogozin

BRUSSELS. February 27. KAZINFORM Russia and NATO are pleased with the pace that relations are progressing within the Russia-NATO Council, frozen after last August's war with Georgia, the Russian envoy to NATO said on Thursday.

"The sides have confirmed their satisfaction with the pace in re-establishing the work of the Russia-NATO Council," Dmitry Rogozin said after talks with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. He added that his dialogue with the UN secretary general, which "constitutes a very important avenue" in harmonizing the parties' interests and positions, "has been restored in full", Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. The Russian envoy said he and Scheffer had agreed to meet again in a week "to clarify a number of points," specifically on South Ossetia, where their positions still differed. Rogozin took part in an informal meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels on Wednesday - the second meeting between the Russian representative and 26 NATO envoys since ties were frozen following the Russia-Georgia conflict. The Russian envoy also said on Wednesday that Scheffer had been invited to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Moscow on March 27, which would discuss, among other things, the situation in Afghanistan and its influence on neighboring countries.