MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/. Macedonia may prove unable to pursue an independent foreign policy following its accession to NATO, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.
"There will certainly be a price to pay for NATO’s protection. We know the price now as Washington has announced it. In fact, they will have to increase their defense spending, pay for participation in military preparations and operations that have little to do with the interests of the Macedonian people, and also lose the possibility to pursue a truly independent foreign policy," she pointed out.
According to Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry cannot understand from what threats the North Atlantic Alliance plans to protect Macedonia. "The Kosovo army, which is being formed of former Albanian militants, is the only serious military power that is destabilizing the region. We don’t see any other security threats and so we ask ourselves: is it possible that NATO will once again wage a war against those who received training and weapons from the Alliance?" the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said.
On Wednesday, the envoys of 29 NATO countries and Macedonia singed an accession protocol at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. Now the document will be submitted for ratification to the Alliance’s members, and after that Macedonia will also be able to ratify it. The process is expected to be completed before the end of the year.