Russia Says NATO's Suspension of Cooperation with Moscow a 'Cold War' Move

Russia on Wednesday accused NATO of succumbing to "Cold War" instincts after the alliance suspended all cooperation with Moscow over the Crimea crisis.

"Basic instincts of Cold War have awoken in NATO, affecting rhetoric accordingly," the official Twitter page of Russia's mission to NATO quoted envoy Alexander Grushko as saying.

"'The alliance is under threat!' Seems like taxpayers will have to fork out for military games," he said.

The Western alliance's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Tuesday said that NATO is "suspending all practical cooperation with Russia, military and civilian" over Moscow's speedy annexation of the Crimea peninsula and reported massing of troops near Ukraine's border.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin derided the announcement, remarking that it was made on April Fool's Day.

"Last time (in 2008) they were freezing for three months, and thawed by December," he said, referring to Russia's short war with neighboring Georgia.

"What can I say: it's a Cold War, so they are still freezing," he wrote on Twitter.