NATO suspends NATO-Russia joint mission to 'send a clear message: Russia's actions have consequences'

BRUSSELS, March 5 (UPI) -- NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced Wednesday that NATO is taking "a number of immediate steps" in response to Russia's incursion into Ukraine.

Rasmussen delineated the steps that NATO has decided to take in order to "send a clear message: Russia's actions have consequences."

NATO has suspended its first planned NATO-Russia joint mission to provide a maritime escort for U.S. vessel Cape Ray as it transports Syrian chemical weapons for at-sea destruction. "Russia will not be involved in the escort of the U.S. vessel." Rasmussen stressed that Russia's removal from the Syrian chemical weapons destruction "will not affect the destruction of chemical weapons."

All NATO staff-level civilian and military meetings with Russia are suspended.

"We have put the entire range of NATO-Russian cooperation under review."

Despite the pause in military relations, Rasmussen acknowledged there is a "door open for political dialogue."

NATO foreign ministers plan to review NATO-Russian cooperation in early April.

[NATO]