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NATO refusing to speak with Russia on equal basis — Russian deputy defense minister

The alliance has been ignoring Russia’s interests and avoiding an equal discussion of the existing problems, Alexander Fomin said

MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. NATO has been ignoring Russia’s interests in recent years and steadfastly refuses to maintain an equal dialogue when Moscow tries to establish ties of cooperation, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said on Monday.

"The alliance has been ignoring Russia’s interests and avoiding an equal discussion of the existing problems. For instance, in 2009, it turned down Russia’s proposal to sign a new comprehensive agreement on mutual security guarantees amid a chill in bilateral relations following the developments in Georgia in 2008," he said.

In September 2017, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed forces Valery Gerasimov handed over to Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Petr Pavel several proposals on the normalization of relations.

"One of these proposals was to maintain high-level contacts. However, talks held in a period from 2016 to 2021 demonstrated that the alliance is not ready for substantive talks between the military and is seeking to avoid concrete de-escalation solutions, and hence, is turning down all Russian initiatives," Fomin said, adding that Russia’s proposals also included the exchange of information on terrorist threats.

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