NATO Suspends Cooperation with Russia, Bolsters Border Security

NATO's Foreign ministers agreed Tuesday to suspend civilian and military cooperation with Russia.

The decision does not scrap the NATO-Russia Council, but dialogue which was based on it could continue only "at ambassadorial level".

At a meeting in Brussels, measures were approved to bolster Eastern Europe's defense in Poland and the Baltic region and boost cooperation with former Soviet states for which Russia is a northern neighbor.

Military assistance to Moldova, Azerbaijan and Armenia is now to be increased, even though participants in the meeting made clear their goal of a Euro-Atlantic region that is "free and at peace".

No agreement was however reached on Poland's repeated proposal to permanently install NATO forces at its eastern flank, a move that could be considered a direct threat to Russia.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski openly called for two NATO brigades to be stationed in the country, the Guardian has reported.

In a statement, NATO condemned Russia's "military intervention" in Crimea as "illegal" and as an act of "violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Russia's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to the bloc's actions, but on its website Speaker Aleksander Lukashevich has described them as creating a "deja vu effect" resembling "language from the Cold War". He also said that it is not Russia and NATO who is set to win from ending collaboration in fields such as fighting terrorism and piracy.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has made remarks on his Twitter profile, saying that similar measures were approved in September 2008 after Russian actions in South Ossetia.

He also reminded, somewhat...