NOVOSIBIRSK, June 04. /ITAR-TASS/. NATO advances towards the Russian borders has nothing to do with European security issues, Kremlin administration head Sergei Ivanov said on Wednesday.
Pronouncements that NATO’s east European boundaries had to be strengthened “are used either as a psychological trick or knowingly used as a screen for moving NATO’s military infrastructure closer to our borders,” the head of the presidential administration said.
“I don’t see any military sense in it. This is more about politics, or cheap politics, to put it blantly,” Ivanov added.
Statements generated further problems in relations between Russia and NATO, which had been developing positively over recent years, he said.
“There are certain security problems that equally worry Russia and NATO member-countries. But these problems are outside the European continent and have nothing to do with the European security,” Ivanov said.
“That is why, in my opinion, advancement of [NATO] infrastructure southeast has a destabilising nature and has nothing to do with real problems of security in Europe,” he added.