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Russian Defense Ministry denies violations of military transparency rules in Europe

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman recalled that not a single combat training exercise by the Russian armed forces violated any international treaties and agreements

© Donat Sorokin/TASS

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MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/. Russian Defense Ministry has dismissed claims by NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg about Russia’s alleged violations of mechanisms of military transparency in Europe, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.

"It is very predictable that the degree of Russophobic hysteria by individual representatives of the alliance soars ahead of summit meetings of NATO’s European members. It is obvious that the real purpose of such allegations about a ‘Russian threat’ is to deliberately fan panic in the face of a crafty enemy that has to be fought against, for which colossal military budgets are needed," Konashenkov said.

"The latest statement by NATO’s secretary-general is part and parcel of a Russophobic show being staged for the taxpayers in the alliance’s member-states, who are to agree with mammoth spending on struggle against an ostensible Russian military threat," Konashekov said.

He recalled that not a single combat training exercise by the Russian armed forces, including the surprise combat readiness checks, violated any international treaties and agreements, under which Russia was obliged to provide information about military activity within the zone of confidence and security building measures.

Konashenkov said that Russia, acting in the spirit of goodwill, shared with the military attaches and the OSCE (via communication channels) with the information about the surprise check due to begin in the Russian armed forces on June 14.

"However, just as in most other cases, our foreign counterparts were reluctant to take note of that and went ahead with their anti-Russian show in accordance with the script we predicted back on June 6, 2016," Konashenkov said.

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