(VOVworld) – The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Russia's Ministry of Defense have set up a communication link to deal with any issues they might face amid mounting tensions.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin.. (Photo: AFP)

This is the first time the two sides have established a hotline since the Cold War ended. NATO declined to specify when communications channels were set up or any details of the link. Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Newspaper said Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier suggested the idea to respond to any crisis arising from the civil war in Ukraine.