Just days after NATO and Russian officials clashed at the Munich Security Conference, a group of prominent experts from the military alliance is to arrive in Moscow on Tuesday.
The 12 dignitaries, headed by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, will meet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev, news reports said.
The group was set up last year to facilitate the development of NATO's new strategic concept, and its trip to Moscow will be its first visit outside the territory of the alliance. The fact that Moscow was selected for the inaugural visit underscores the importance of NATO's partnership with Moscow, former Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld, a member of the group, told Vremya Novostei in an interview published Monday.
NATO’s current strategy, adopted in 1999, does not envision any missions outside its traditional theater of operations in Europe and the North Atlantic.
Alliance leaders said last year that they want to complete the new strategy by their next summit, which is expected to be held by the end of the year.
Albright is scheduled to address students at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations on Thursday, the final day of the three-day visit.
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