MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. Russia has enough military technical means to 100% guarantee its defense capacity and security amid NATO’s expansion, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Friday.
"We will use military technical means to ensure our security [amid NATO’s expansion]. We have a quite sufficient arsenal to 100% guarantee our defense capacity and our security," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel.
He stressed that Russia’s position in this sphere "has never been changed." He recalled that Moscow has repeatedly said that NATO’s "absolutely unmotivated expansion" runs counter to Russia’s vision of how European security should be enhanced. "First of all, it should be done by means of the establishment of a collective security system rather than by relying on instruments inherited from the Cold War era," he said.
According to Grushko, Western partners have turned a deaf ear to Russia’s warnings that NATO’s expansion will weaken European security and the alliance’s security in the long run. "We will be acting based on our interests in each particular case. We will weigh our actions against our possibilities. It is in the interests to prevent an arms race and to prevent the risks of escalation," he added.