BRUSSELS, Belgium — NATO and Russia will resume diplomatic contacts for the first time since the war in Georgia, the alliance's spokesman said Thursday.

Spokesman James Appathurai said NATO's secretary-general and Russia's ambassador to the Western alliance will meet informally today — the first such meeting since NATO froze diplomatic contacts in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Georgia in August.

Russian Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin has said previously he would welcome the resumption of ties, but his mission played down expectations for the meeting with Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

"We don't expect anything specific ... but it is a step in unfreezing our relations," said Igor Semenenko, a senior Russian diplomat in Brussels.

Despite the diplomatic freeze, NATO and Russia have continued to cooperate on issues of common interest, such as combating piracy off the Somali coast.

Moscow also has agreed to allow the alliance to use its territory to resupply Western forces in Afghanistan. Attacks on transport convoys in Pakistan by pro-Taliban forces have raised concerns about the security of NATO's main overland logistics route.

NATO foreign ministers agreed two weeks ago to gradually resume contacts with Moscow, starting with meetings at a relatively low level.

They held off on resuming higher level talks, such as the meetings of Russian foreign and defense ministers with NATO counterparts that were held regularly every few months before the split over Georgia.

NATO ministers remain critical of Moscow and say the resumption of talks would not mean a return to business as usual for the NATO-Russia Council.