Russia should put up with NATO enlargement, acknowledging that this is not the provocation of the West, but the intention of Eastern European countries to join the alliance, Secretary General of the Alliance Jens Stoltenberg said while delivering lecture in the Oxford University, Forbes.ru reports.
Stoltenberg, who was appointed as the Secretary General of NATO on October 1, 2014, assured that the alliance’s actions have defensive and proportional nature. “We do not want a new cold war and are not searching for confrontation with Russia”, he emphasized.
The Secretary General of North-Atlantic Alliance acknowledged that he cannot understand why Moscow sees provocation in NATO enlargement due to the entry of new members in Central and Eastern Europe. According to him, it is not NATO, which is expanding towards the East, but “Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Hungary submitted entry applications”. “Russia needs to relax and accept that its neighbors determine their way themselves”, Stoltenberg noted, reminding that neither Moscow, nor other countries have any right to determine the future of neighboring countries.
Stoltenberg grounded measures on NATO enlargement in the Eastern Europe as the necessity of “powerful containment” of Russia, as it is “the best way to prevent war”.
The Secretary General of NATO reminded students and Oxford teachers that several years ago NATO and Russia had close relationships. “The main reason, why they changed, is the Crimea”, Stoltenberg said. He told that in response NATO increased its military presence in the East, sending a clear signal about the readiness to defend its allies against intervention. The practical cooperation of NATO with Russia was suspended.
As Stoltenberg noted, NATO still has a political dialogue with Moscow. “I understood that we can conduct negotiations with Russians. Russia will not just vanish. It will be where it is now, and it will continue to remain our big neighbor”, the General Secretary of NATO summarized.
On November 2, Russia’s Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu claimed that Moscow has to undertake measures in response to building NATO’s warfare capabilities at western borders. Shoigu noted that the North Atlantic Alliance continues its efforts to impose its will on other countries with the help of economic and political dictate and military force. In addition, the open information war is being conducted.
“These actions disrupt strategic stability and force Russia to undertake response defensive measures, including on the Western strategic direction”, the Russian Minister of Defense emphasized.
In October 2016, the Minister of Defense of Russia confirmed the installation of Iskander missile complexes in Kaliningrad region.
