NATO: Serious disagreements with Russia on issues

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA

NATO and Russia have "serious" disagreements on a number of issues, the bloc's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

"I welcomed the opportunity to meet with [Russian] Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today. NATO and Russia have serious disagreements on a number of issues, which make our dialogue even more important," Stoltenberg told reporters in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.

"Today, we discussed military posture and exercises, including Russia's recent exercise Vostok as well as NATO's upcoming exercise Trident Juncture," he added.

The chief also raised NATO's concerns about Russia's ongoing "aggressive actions" in Ukraine, and expressed NATO's strong solidarity with the U.K. following an alleged Russian nerve agent attack this March.

In the attack, ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by a nerve agent in the southern English city of Salisbury. The British government blamed the incident on Russia, linking the nerve agent to a series of Russia-developed chemical weapons collectively known as Novichok.

The Kremlin strongly denied responsibility in the case. The Skripals have since recovered from the alleged assassination attempt.

Stoltenberg and Lavrov also agreed to continue contacts.