Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov flew to Brussels Wednesday evening for Thursday's first session of the new NATO-Russian Council.
Russia and 19 NATO member states signed a document to create a new NATO-Russian Council at last week's summit in Rome, Italy. Thenew council will have Russia and NATO jointly tackling such issuesas crisis management, peacekeeping, search-and-rescue operation and joint exercises.
The session, held at the level of defense ministers, is expected to discuss the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the fight against international terrorism, and ways to deal with new challenges and threats.
The minister will also hold a series of bilateral meetings on the sideline of the session, including that with NATO Secretary General George Robertson and US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2002)
