NATO says around two thirds of Russian troops pulling back from Ukraine border

Russia is in the process of withdrawing around two thirds of the troops it had close to the border with Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday.

The estimate is far higher than previous estimates made by NATO of the extent of a Russian withdrawal.

"We have seen signs of at least a partial withdrawal. Our estimate is that around two thirds of Russian troops have been or are being pulled back," Rasmussen told Reuters on the sidelines of a meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

He also said that NATO and Russia would meet in the framework of a cooperative body, the NATO-Russia Council, on Monday but gave no further details.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas, writing by Adrian Croft; editing by Barbara Lewis)