MOSCOW, September 3. /TASS/. Russia is not mandated to give reports to NATO about military drills it conducts keeping in mind the lower status of the dialogue that the alliance is responsible for, Chairman of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Committee for Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky noted via his Telegram channel, commenting on the call of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to disclose details of the Zapad 2021 exercises.
"Cooperation is a two-way street. The North Atlantic Alliance unilaterally downgraded its level of relations with Russia. This is their choice," Slutsky noted.
According to him, Russia "is not obligated to report to anyone with this tone, especially considering that there are American missile defense systems are deployed to Poland and American troops are periodically relocated to countries that are located in direct proximity to Russian borders." "And there’s no point to even talk about Ukraine’s concerns," the lawmaker added.