The North Atlantic Council will hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss Russia's military buildup in Crimea and the ORDLO, as well as on Ukraine's borders, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

The meeting will be held in a virtual format on Friday, January 7.

"NATO foreign ministers will discuss Russia's military build-up in and around Ukraine as well as broader European security issues. The meeting will be chaired by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg," the statement said.

It also emerged that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has scheduled a special meeting next week between allied ambassadors and senior Russian officials, amid the two sides seeking dialogue to prevent open conflict over Ukraine, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing a statement from a NATO spokesman.

The council meeting, a format used for dialogue since 2002, will be held in Brussels on Jan. 12 after U.S. and Russian officials hold security talks Jan. 10 in Geneva.

"Any dialogue with Russia must be conducted on the basis of reciprocity, taking into account NATO's concerns about Russia's actions ... and take place in consultation with NATO's European partners," the NATO spokesman said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that Russian officials will attend the NATO meeting in Brussels. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and other high-ranking Russian officials are expected to attend the talks in Brussels after meeting with U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman in Geneva, the weekly said.

On Jan. 13, the talks will continue in the broader format of the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which includes the United States and its NATO allies, as well as Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet states.