MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/. Decisions that can be taken at the upcoming NATO summit due to be held in Warsaw on July 8-9 are capable of undermining efforts to strengthen security in Europe, Russian Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, which will be published on Thursday.
"Unfortunately, steps taken today, for instance, by NATO do not promote dialogue at all. On the country, they distract the parties, make the military respond to the actions taken by the military in other countries," Lukashevich noted. "The decisions that can be taken at the NATO summit could undermine efforts to restore confidence and strengthen security in Europe."
According to the diplomat, the current situation is "a kind of the ‘cold confrontation’ teetering on the edge of completely different, more horrible scenarios."
"The OSCE should make more vigorous efforts towards boosting cooperation between countries for the sake of peace on the continent," he said.
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He noted that the OSCE today is one of the active venues "where options for countries’ response to new challenges and threats are discussed."
He recalled that a number of counterterrorism decisions were taken on Russia’s initiative at the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Belgrade last December.
"All this is in line with global measures taken by the UN. In the absence of real cooperation in the military sphere opportunities are accumulated in anti-terrorism and anti-drug cooperation," Lukashevich said.
"In the situation where there is no expert dialogue between agencies, the OSCE is an organization that can help restoring these ties - both between the Interior Ministries and, to some extent, between military agencies," he added.
Among the decisions expected to be taken at the NATO summit are deployment of four multinational battalions to Poland and three Baltic states, the beginning of the creation of a multinational brigade in Romania, the announcement of taking the missile defense system to the combat readiness level. It is also planned to discuss plans to step up NATO’s presence in the Mediterranean Sea, the alliance’s cooperation with the Gulf states and the extension of non-combat operations in Afghanistan.