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Russian envoy sees no signs of NATO-Russia relations' normalization

"I will confess honestly, I don’t know what our interlocutors mean by ‘business as usual’ when they say cooperation as earlier is impossible," Russia’s Permanent Representative Alexander Grushko said

BRUSSELS, May 21. /TASS/. Russia’s Permanent Representative to NATO Alexander Grushko said he does not see signs that the North Atlantic alliance is ready to return to normal interaction with Russia.

"I will confess honestly, I don’t know what our interlocutors mean by ‘business as usual’ when they say cooperation as earlier is impossible," Grushko said.

"From today’s meetings we only realized that on the one hand, we are called upon to return to the strategic partnership policy with the West, but NATO is saying cooperation with Russia is impossible," he said Friday evening, commenting to Russian journalists in Brussels on the results of a two-day meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers.

Grushko said "NATO unilaterally severed and terminated all cooperation projects that really strengthened the security of both NATO countries and Russia."

"If we look at what NATO’s allies were discussing at the ministerial meeting besides the Russian issue, these are Afghanistan, the situation in the Middle East and Northern Africa. But it is in these spheres of the fight against terrorism that the Russia-NATO cooperation yielded fruit," he said.

"There are no signs yet that NATO is ready to return to normal interaction that would give added value to the security of NATO countries and Russia. And this, of course, narrows the opportunities for political dialogue," Grushko said.

Military non-alignment policy is advantageous

Russia’s Permanent Representative to NATO Alexander Grushko also said that while Finland and Sweden stick to the policy of non-alignment, this continues to guarantee a certain stability in regions which are very important to ensure the legitimate interests of Russia’s security.

"We have always rather highly appreciated the policy of military non-alignment of Finland and Sweden, which provided and keeps providing for them evident advantages regarding ensuring their own security," Grushko told Russian journalists Friday evening in Brussels after a two-day foreign ministerial meeting of NATO members.

NATO should revise its attitude toward Russia

NATO should revise its attitude toward Russia to ensure confidence building measures, Alexander Grushko said.

"Yes, we really hear on the part of NATO reproaches that we are insufficiently transparent, but nevertheless, the highest transparency and predictability were ensured by the regime of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which was subject to adaptation but was actually blocked by NATO countries," Grushko said.

"So they should blame not the Russian Federation but, first of all, themselves," he said commenting on the results of a two-day foreign ministerial meeting of the alliance.

"The talk today.. should be about qualitative revision by NATO of its attitude toward Russia, about giving up attempts to deter it," Grushko said.

Grushko sees no signs for NATO-Russia relations' normalization

Grushko said he does not see signs that the North Atlantic alliance is ready to return to normal interaction with Russia.

"I will confess honestly, I don’t know what our interlocutors mean by ‘business as usual’ when they say cooperation as earlier is impossible," Grushko said.

"From today’s meetings we only realized that on the one hand, we are called upon to return to the strategic partnership policy with the West, but NATO is saying cooperation with Russia is impossible," he said Friday evening, commenting to Russian journalists in Brussels on the results of a two-day meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers.

Grushko said "NATO unilaterally severed and terminated all cooperation projects that really strengthened the security of both NATO countries and Russia."

"If we look at what NATO’s allies were discussing at the ministerial meeting besides the Russian issue, these are Afghanistan, the situation in the Middle East and Northern Africa. But it is in these spheres of the fight against terrorism that the Russia-NATO cooperation yielded fruit," he said.

"There are no signs yet that NATO is ready to return to normal interaction that would give added value to the security of NATO countries and Russia. And this, of course, narrows the opportunities for political dialogue," Grushko said.

Blending politics and military planning explosive mixture

Alexander Grushko has refrained from forecasting trends of development of relations between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance.

"What trends can there be if the policy of confrontation is taking the shape of military planning? Of course, this is a serious factor that aggravates the relations between Russia and NATO, and we know from the history of the Cold War that hostile policy generates military planning which in turn starts to generate hostile policy," Grushko told Russian journalists on Saturday after the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers on cooperation with the European Union.

"And the impression is that NATO is about to into this spiral because military efforts made today - if the Alliance will continue them, of course - will require some kind of ideological and political reasoning," the diplomat noted.

"We see today that the number of scary tales does not decrease, but grows. Sometimes you are just astonished when you read serious research that concludes that Russia has not yet attacked the Baltic States only because NATO had managed to deploy foreign forces there," Grushko went on.

"Blending politics with military planning is an explosive mixture, and it contains big risks for regional security and pan-European security as well," he concluded.

Russia ready for consultations on agreements on preventing incidents

There are many instruments today to prevent risks that were discussed at the two-day meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers on cooperation with the European Union in the context or relations with Moscow, Grushko told Russian journalists.

"We are open for consultations on reaching bilateral agreements on preventing military incidents with all countries, including NATO member states on a bilateral basis. We already have such agreements with several countries, and they are working rather successfully," Grushko said.

However, the problem is not how Russian interceptor aircraft should fly but rather that NATO’s military activity has moved closer to Russia borders, the diplomat noted. "The question connected with our aircraft making passes near USS Donald Cook should be formed not as ‘who flew’ but rather as ‘what did USS Donald Cook, equipped with Aegis (integrated naval weapons system) and Tomahawks (long-range subsonic cruise missiles), do in 70 kilometers from our main Navy base?’" the ambassador continued.

NATO countries are responsible for deploying additional forces in regions that were the most stable and safe from the point of view of classic military threats, Grushko said. "However, NATO’s first aerial surveillance mission appeared in the Baltic States in 2005 without any reason, which, of course, cannot not lead to us taking additional security measures. I will remind that there are several minutes of flight from Amari Air Base to St. Petersburg," the diplomat added.