Nato and Russia today resumed formal co-operation on security threats, a Nato official said after their first high-level talks since falling out over the Georgia war last year.
Nato foreign ministers met their Russian counterparts today on the Greek island of Corfu.
The deal emerged after Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the two sides recognised it was time to crank up joint efforts against Afghan insurgents and drug trafficking, Somali piracy, terrorism and nuclear proliferation.
Many ministers will stay on for an informal European Union review of ties with Iran over its post-election crackdown on opposition protesters, and a session of Europe's biggest security and human rights group to tackle Western-Russian tensions stoked by the Georgia conflict.
The meetings come a week before a summit between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow, and a summit of Group of Eight powers in Rome.
The spate of diplomacy is aimed at mending ties torn by Russia's crushing of a Georgian bid to retake a rebel region and US plans for a missile shield on Russia's doorstep, stirring a poisonous atmosphere reminiscent of the old Cold War.
"This means we're back to business," Nato spokesman James Apputharai told reporters, alluding to hopes of reviving cooperation frozen amid mutual recriminations over Georgia.
Dimitry Rogozin, Moscow's envoy to Nato, was more cautious. He said Russia's objective at the meeting was to "analyse the situation of the Russia-NATO relationship" to see if the time was ripe to "maybe start the process of military cooperation".
Reuters