Russia is ready to resume its relations with NATO on an equal basis, news agencies reported Friday, citing Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"We are ready for it (the restoration of relations). But it should take place on an equal basis," Lavrov told the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament.

Later in the day, the Russian top diplomat said the restoration of Russia-NATO relations should begin with a discussion of the causes of the five-day war between Russia and Georgia.

"We will insist that the resumption of ties starts with the discussion of the causes of the Caucasus crisis, which our NATO partners dodged in August," Lavrov told reporters after talks with his Bulgarian counterpart.

On Friday, NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer met Russian envoy Dmitry Rogozin in Brussels, resuming high-level political contacts between the alliance and Moscow, which were frozen for four months following the Georgia crisis.

NATO foreign ministers decided to suspend high-level contacts with Russia in August, accusing Russia of "disproportionate use of force" in Georgia. In response, Russia halted cooperation with NATO's Moscow office and called off the NATO chief's visit to Moscow.

In early December, NATO foreign ministers authorized de Hoop Scheffer to gradually resume political contacts with Moscow. But the NATO chief insisted at the time that the decision did not mean NATO would resume business as usual with Russia, nor that NATO suddenly agreed to Russia's position over Georgia.

(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2008)