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Russian envoy states concerning trend of pulling neutral states into NATO

The Russian side also has doubts regarding EU neutrals states’ participation in the Permanent Structured Cooperation PESCO

VIENNA, February 16. /TASS/. Russia is observing a concerning trend of pulling neutral states in NATO, expressed in joint military exercises, and this trend destabilizes the situation, says head of Russian delegation to Vienna talks on military security and arms control Konstantin Gavrilov.

"Recently, we’ve been observing concerning trends of pulling neutral states into the North Atlantic alliance’s orbit. Joint military exercises remain one of the main forms of their cooperation," Gavrilov said, speaking at the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation.

According to the Russian diplomat, tens of NATO and neutral states’ aircraft take part in NATO’s Arctic Challenge maneuvers, which utilize bases in Sweden and Finland. Meanwhile, these exercises are obviously offensive in nature. For example, last year’s large-scale Defender Europe 2021 exercise involved non-NATO states: Sweden, Finland and Austria.

"During the large-scale maneuvers, significant military contingents were relocated to Russian borders. We register it," Gavrilov noted.

The Russian side also has doubts regarding EU neutrals states’ participation in the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), which aims to reinforce the "European pillar inside within NATO".

"All mentioned trends point to gradual integration of a number of European countries into the alliance’s military activity, which objectively destabilizes the situation, in Europe’s northern part in particular," Gavrilov noted. "Although, if we look back in history, even during the most escalated periods of the Cold War, Sweden and Finland carried out a weighted and pragmatic policy of the so-called ‘northern balance,’ which enjoyed deserved respect of the common European community.".

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