BRUSSELS, Dec 19, 2008 (AFP) - The NATO-Russia Council will meet informally next month for the first time since the military alliance froze the meetings over Moscow's war on Georgia, Russia's envoy said Friday.

"We agreed that in mid-January we will hold an informal NATO-Russia Council meeting at the level of ambassadors," Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin told reporters after talks with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.