Russia has decided to freeze its military cooperation with NATO and allied countries until further notice, the Norwegian defence ministry said Wednesday.
  
"Norway has received information that Russia has decided to 'freeze' all military cooperation with NATO and allied countries until further notice," the ministry said in a statement.
  
A ministry spokeswoman, Heiki Langvik-Hansen, told AFP "the Russian defence ministry had telephoned the Norwegian embassy in Moscow" informing Norway of the development.
  
NATO foreign ministers had on Tuesday declared that "business as usual" with Moscow was now impossible following Russia's invasion of Georgian territory in a fierce conflict over the South Ossetia separatist region.
  
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer accused Russia of failing to respect a French-brokered peace plan requiring both sides to move troops back to their positions before Georgia launched an offensive on the separatist region of South Ossetia.
  
The Russian navy meanwhile announced it had cancelled its participation in naval maneuvers planned in the Baltic Sea as part of its partnership with NATO, and said it was currently "not considered possible" to host the US naval frigate Ford.