Russia denies halting NATO transit to Afghanistan

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is not planning to halt the vital transit of NATO cargoes to Afghanistan through its territory, Interfax news agency quoted the Russian armed forces deputy chief of staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn as saying on Monday.

"I know nothing about Russia unilaterally halting the transit of civilian cargoes for the alliance's forces through Russian territory to Afghanistan," he said. "Generally speaking this is not our position. We don't take such demonstrative steps."

Interfax said Nogovitsyn was responding to a question whether Russia was planning to halt the transit, crucial for NATO's operations in Afghanistan after the alliance froze regular contacts with Russia over Moscow's military operation in Georgia.

(Writing by Oleg Shchedrov; Editing by Jon Boyle)