AKIPRESS.COM - NATO's decision to suspend cooperation with Russia resembles Cold War-style sword swinging, RIA Novosti reported citing a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich.

The 28-nation NATO bloc announced Tuesday it will suspend all practical contacts with Moscow, in a move to put further pressure on Russia following its reunification with Crimea.

“The decision of the NATO Council of foreign ministers to suspend cooperation with Russia in the civilian and military spheres seems like déjà vu,” Lukashevich said.

The diplomat said the alliance had already frozen the work of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) in 2008, in the wake of a brief war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia. Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia, shortly after the war, prompting furious criticism from the West.

NATO, however, resumed cooperation after 10 months, announcing that the NRC should become an “all-weather forum” to discuss differences and cooperate in enhancing dialogue.

The diplomat said that neither Russia nor NATO countries win in halting mutual activities.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen expressed hope that the suspension would not affect Russia's participation in joint international projects in Afghanistan.

The foreign ministers will review NATO's relations with Russia at their next meeting in June.