Diplomat: Deployment of US forces in Europe on rotation basis against Russia-NATO accords

MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. Russia does not accept the attempts to justify the deployment of more NATO forces in Europe by the claims troops are being deployed on the basis of rotation, as this rotation is indefinite, the Russian ambassador to NATO, Alexander Grushko said in an interview with the Izvestia daily.

"A surplus armored brigade, which is said to consolidate NATO's eastern flank, runs counter to the letter and spirit of the Russia-NATO Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security," he said. "NATO took a pledge to refrain from an additional deployment of considerable combat forces permamently under its provisions and we've said more than once that an indefinite rotation is in no way different from permanent deployment."

Along with it, Grushko said NATO's actions in Europe stood at variance with the provisions of the Founding Act even from a formal angle of view.

"Construction of two bases of the European segment of the global antiballistic missile system is underway," he said. "The base in Romania has reached the phase of operation readiness and its transfer to NATO's command has been scheduled for May.'

"Construction of a facility in Poland continues, too," Grushko said. "These bases already meet the criteria of strategic significance and are permanent."

Arms control regime in Europe is dead

According to the diplomat, the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) has no links with reality because NATO countries are not ready to support its adaptation to new conditions. For that reason, the arms control regime is practically non-existent.

"Since the CFE [Treaty - TASS] has lost all links with reality, it can be said that today the arms control regime in Europe is dead. That makes the security situation even more complicated. But it is the NATO countries’ choice," Grushko told Izvestia.

He explained that the CFE regime had initially implied full exchange of information and a reliable inspection regime.

"Early in the 1990s it became clear the treaty was no longer complying with new political realities. Negotiations on its adaptation got under way. Those efforts ended with the signing an Agreement on Adaptation of the CFE Treaty," Grushko went on to say.

"That regime was more adapted to the new realities. For example, it envisaged concrete mechanisms for using political instruments in case the forces deployed exceed certain limits," he added.

Grushko also said that Russia had ratified the Agreement on Adaptation of the CFE Treaty in 2004.

"However, the NATO countries kept delaying its ratification under far-fetched pretexts. As a result, the agreement has never come into force and the arms control regime has been eroded," the Russian diplomat said.