MOSCOW - The head of NATO Information Office in Moscow on Friday revealed NATO and Russia are planning to resume joint theater missile defense drills early 2012, according to local media reports.

Robert Pshel told RIA Novosti news agency that NATO and Russia "have decided to return to cooperation which has a good history".

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"The cooperation includes the theater missile defense," Pshel said, adding that "Probably, we will hold special drills in this sphere starting early next year".

Pshel also noted the two sides are also planning to hold military exercises, entitled Bold Monarch, in the Mediterranean Sea, during which the parties will train rescue skills.

The drills between NATO and Russia have been halted since the conflicts between Russia and Georgia in August 2008.

In last year, NATO has officially invited Moscow to resume the exercises during the NATO-Russia Council summit in Lisbon.