Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 29 / Trend , E.Tariverdiyeva/ NATO may supply cargo to its troops in Afghanistan via Azerbaijan, said Russian permanent representative to NATO Dmitri Rogozin.
"NATO leadership is considering the southern route running through Ukraine, the Black Sea, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea to Afghanistan," Rogozin told Trend in a telephone conversation from Brussels.
NATO is delivering its cargo to Kabul and southern Afghanistan via Pakistan.
The routes via Pakistan, he said, are unreliable. Due to attacks on convoys,
only half the cargo reaches the destination. NATO is well aware of the need to
diversify the routes, he said.
NATO needs alternative routes - southern and northern, passing through Russia, he said. Northern route is likely to be commissioned within coming months if NATO comes
to consent with the countries, said Rogozin.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer exchanged of letters during a meeting in April 2008. The letters
envisage agreements between NATO and Russia to enable railway transit of
civilian cargo to the international forces in Afghanistan
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