Talks between Nato and Russia on a joint mission to protect a US ship that will destroy Syria’s deadliest chemical weapons are moving ahead despite tensions over Ukraine, a top US commander said yesterday.

US Air Force General Philip Breedlove, commander of US forces in Europe, said Nato and Russia were discussing a possible joint naval operation in the Mediterranean to protect the US cargo ship Cape Ray due to destroy Syria’s toxins.

News of the discussions between Nato and Russia in a joint body called the Nato-Russia Council was first reported by Reuters on February 14.

“We are in negotiations right now in the Nato-Russia Council and those negotiations are moving forward,” Breedlove said in an interview with Reuters and The Wall Street Journal.

He said discussions on what would be a rare example of military cooperation between Russia and Nato had not been affected by any tensions over the Ukraine crisis.

Under a US-Russian deal reached after a chemical weapons attack killed hundreds of people around Damascus last year, President Bashar al-Assad’s government should have handed over 1,300 tons of toxic chemicals by February 5 for destruction abroad.

But only a handful of cargoes have been shipped out so far, causing international frustration at the slow progress.