Closer cooperation with Russia should become...

The Council also advised NATO to "take seriously contingency planning for the protection of the Baltic states, particularly Estonia and Latvia, while recognizing that transparency is essential to assure the Russians these efforts are purely defensive."

Obama scrapped plans last year for interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic pursued by his predecessor as protection against possible Iranian strikes in an apparent move to ease Russian security concerns.

In February, however, Romania and Bulgaria said they were in talks with the Obama administration on deploying elements of the U.S. missile shield on their territories from 2015, triggering an angry reaction from Moscow.

NEW YORK, March 4 (RIA Novosti)