Russia only has emergency channel of communication with NATO — senior diplomat

Only an emergency channel of communication remains between Russia and NATO after the North Atlantic Alliance cut ties with the country, Vladislav Maslennikov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s department of European affairs, told TASS in an interview. There is only an emergency channel of communication left," the senior Russian diplomat said. According to Maslennikov, the bloc actually froze the dialogue with Russia at its own initiative in 2014. "We could discuss certain issues, but NATO reduced everything to the Ukraine issue. And our initiatives toward de-escalating military tensions in Europe were not appreciated.