Russia Expects to Discuss Eastward Expansion with NATO

nsnbc : The Russian Foreign Ministry announced Thursday, that Moscow expects to discuss NATO’s eastwards expansion at a Russia-NATO Council meeting on July 13. The meeting will be held only days after the conclusion of NATO’s Summit in Warsaw, Poland.

Stoltenberg_NATO_Warsaw_2016Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told the press that “The central topic of the meeting will be the decisions of the Warsaw meeting to strengthen the eastern flank of the block and its consequences for all aspects of European security”.

On Wednesday NATO Secretary-General jens Stoltenberg stated that an agreement had been reached with Moscow to hold a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at the ambassadorial level at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Stoltenberg added that the discussions also will focus on the security situation in Afghanistan and Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly accused NATO of increasing its presence in eastern Europe, while NATO countries responded that Russia presented a threat to Europe, citing its involvement in the Ukraine crisis and rearmament of its armed forces.

Moscow has repeatedly voiced bitter disappointment over NATO’s eastwards expansion after the reunification of Germany and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Moscow stresses that it received promises that no NATO troops would be stationed in any of the former Warsaw Pact member States. NATO and many of its constituents, for their part, noted that this was only an oral promise that never had been formalized in a treaty.

Zakharova denied any aggressive intentions behind the rearmament of the Russian army, saying that it is “a proportionate response” to the increasing military activities of NATO, which is “moving its infrastructure toward Russia’s borders with obvious persistence.” The Russia-NATO Council meeting scheduled for July 13 will be the first since relations deteriorated to a crisis over the situation in Ukraine.

CH/L – nsnbc 09.07.2016

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/07/09/russia-expects-to-discuss-eastward-expansion-with-nato/

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