NATO stands ready to consider the possibility of a NATO-Russia Council meeting on the ministerial level in case there is a pressing agenda, NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said.

"I think that when there is an important topic that deserves ministerial consideration we should consider whether ministers participate or not, but I think there has to be an important reason for ministers to get together," Gottemoeller said via a video link from Brussels at a news briefing of the NATO Information Office in Moscow.

"It's not important for ministers just to meet in the NATO-Russia Council, it's important that there be very serious substance [...] and then all parties make a decision whether or not it's appropriate for meeting to take place at a different level," she said.