BRUSSELS -NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will meet with Russia's foreign minister for the first time — an encounter that comes as relations between Moscow and the West have plunged to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said Tuesday that Stoltenberg and Sergey Lavrov, the Kremlin's top diplomat, will hold bilateral talks during the Munich security conference, a three-day gathering of foreign and security officials that begins Friday.

It will be Stoltenberg's first meeting with Lavrov since he became chief of the U.S.-led NATO alliance on Oct. 1.

At the Munich conference, Stoltenberg will also hold bilateral meetings with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and other attendees, Lungescu said. (AP)