BRUSSELS, March 30. /TASS/. Building confidence is not possible until NATO abandons its military domination policy, Russia’s Permanent Representative to NATO Alexander Grushko said on Thursday.
While commenting on the results of this year's first ambassadorial meeting of the Russia-NATO Council, he said that "it is not possible to build confidence until NATO abandons its military domination policy."
"Representatives of NATO countries have emphasized the importance of the Vienna document on confidence-and security-building measures as well as other arms control mechanisms. But they were unable to answer the question how to combine that with their policy aimed at restraining Russia and demonstrating their military capabilities near our borders."
Exchange of briefings 'not enough'
The exchange of briefings between Russia and NATO is not enough to improve security situation:
Earlier on Thursday, Russia briefed NATO on deploying two divisions in the Western Military District and a motor rifle division in the Southern Military District while NATO countries provided information on the implementation of the plan concerning the forward deployment on NATO’s eastern flank.
"I don’t want to diminish the importance of such briefings, but they are not enough to improve the security situation," Grushko said. "Dialogue for the sake of dialogue will not produce any results if no specific decisions are made and no steps are taken," he added.
- First Russia-NATO Council meeting in 2017 begins in Brussels — source
- Turkey has no plans to integrate Russia’s S-400 missile systems into NATO structure
- Russian diplomat says no need to set up new mechanisms to prevent incidents with NATO
- Russian defense minister blames NATO for dodging cooperation with Russia
- Turkish Minister reproaches NATO for not fulfilling obligations on its south-eastern flank
- Putin accuses NATO of trying to embroil Russia in confrontation
- Stoltenberg rules out NATO's involvement in combat operations against IS in Syria
- Stoltenberg: NATO not planning 'to match Russia soldier for soldier, tank for tank'