NATO, Russia resume talks

BRUSSELS, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- NATO and Russia held high-level talks Friday in their first meeting since Moscow invaded Georgia in August.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, met in Brussels, Voice of America reported.

The North Atlantic Trade Organization suspended its special relationship with Moscow through the NATO-Russia Council after the Georgian conflict four months ago.

Clara O'Donnell, a defense expert at the Center for European Reform in London, said there was a feeling on the part of NATO members that it was a mistake to break contact with Russia over its conflict with Georgia.

"There was a feeling that there was a certain lack of strategy on how to go forward. There was a realization that everybody else had started talking to Russia again, and NATO was the organization that wasn't," she was quoted as saying.

In addition to the Russian-Georgian conflict, Moscow and NATO are at odds over possibility of Georgia and Ukraine joining NATO. Additionally, Russia opposes American plans for an anti-missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.