Moscow, Dec. 9 (Interfax-AVN) - The transit of military cargo through Russia to Afghanistan is a priority for NATO, said Robert Simmons, NATO deputy assistant secretary general for security cooperation and partnership and special representative of the NATO secretary general for the Caucasus and Central Asia in an interview with Interfax on Monday..

After the Pakistani route NATO has been using for a fairly long time, emphasis is on the route that was negotiated with the Russian side in Bucharest, Simmons said.

At present, NATO is negotiating similar deals with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Ukraine, he said.

This will provide for cargo transportation for the International Security Assistance Force by railway via Russia and the above countries, the diplomat said.

Asked to comment on speculation in some media that the United States is considering opening a new transit route to Afghanistan by- passing Russia, probably through the Georgian port of Poti, Simmons said that he was not speaking on behalf of the United States but on behalf of NATO and for NATO the route he had just been talking about was a priority.

Having described Russia-NATO cooperation on Afghanistan as good on the whole, Simmons said that the alliance had received a proposal from Russia, which made this cooperation possible.

But the issue is that cargo cannot be delivered through Russia alone, he said, adding that NATO needed the other transit countries he had just mentioned.

A meeting of all countries concerned may be held in the near future, he said.

The diplomat thanked all countries for their support.

Another important aspect of cooperation on Afghanistan is a crackdown on drug trafficking which requires specially trained personnel, he said.

At first this posed a slight problem but then an agreement was reached under which Afghan servicemen will undergo training at the Domodedovo center near Moscow, Simmons said.