Russia halts military work with NATO :

OSLO: Doubts surfaced over the future of military cooperation between NATO and Russia on Wednesday after Norway said Moscow had informed it of a decision to freeze all joint work with the alliance in the row over Georgia. However Russia's ambassador to NATO played down any future steps, saying the decisions were "of temporary character, of regional character, not global character.

" A NATO spokeswoman said it had no notification of a Russian move."Norway has noted that Russia has decided for the time being to 'freeze' all military cooperation with NATO and allied countries," Norway's Defence Ministry said on its website.A defence ministry spokeswoman told media that Moscow had sent "a message" to Oslo -- with which it has had warm relations -- about the freeze but declined to provide further details.On Tuesday NATO countries agreed after U.S. pressure on to freeze regular contacts with Russia until Moscow had withdrawn its troops from Georgia in line with a peace deal.

NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said the alliance had heard nothing from Moscow on military cooperation. "NATO has not received any notification from the Russians saying they are going to cut military cooperation activities," she said.Russian envoy Dmitry Rogozin said curtailing contacts was "in nobody's interest." "Temporary decisions are being taken on current cooperation and not about cooperation in general," he told media in English.Asked which areas these involved, he said: "Military naval exercises in the Far East, the Mediterranean, in the Baltic."