STOCKHOLM, December 2. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday blasted the attempts by NATO members to use Russian neighbors as bases to face off Moscow as completely unacceptable.
"I want this to be crystal clear: It’s absolutely unacceptable to turn our neighboring countries into footholds to confront Russia and to deploy NATO forces in the immediate proximity to the areas that are strategically important for our security,’’ he said in a speech at an OSCE Ministerial Council meeting.
He said the decision taken at the NATO 2008 summit in Bucharest to eventually accept Georgia and Ukraine as members put a "mine under the foundation of the European security framework."
"It exploded once, in August 2008, when [then-President of Georgia Mikhail] Saakashvili, euphoric with this prospect, went ahead with a reckless gamble that backfired with the gravest consequences for Georgia and brought the security situation in Europe to a perilous point," Lavrov said. "Those who mechanically repeat the Bucharest narrative and insist that third countries don’t have a say in the issue of NATO expansion are playing with fire."
The Russian minister highlighted a statement made by the Collective Security Treaty Organization on November 30 that warns against provocative military activity in areas that are close to the areas of responsibility of its member countries.
OSCE nations are bound by a handful of international agreements to seek equal and indivisible security and consider the interests of other states when building their own security, Lavrov said. These agreements include the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter for European Security and the Astana Commemorative Declaration, he said.
"Security is either indivisible or nonexistent," Lavrov said.
He said the time has arrived to convert the right words into legally binding security guarantees. "It’s imperative for the prevention of the sliding toward a confrontational scenario," he said.