ST. PETERSBURG, September 20. /TASS/. When maintaining contact with its CIS partners, Russia will keep explaining the risks of closer cooperation with NATO to them, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on the sidelines of the Eurasian Women’s Forum.

The diplomat commented on the recent visits to Baku by the chief of the Europe Eurasia Regional Center of the US Defense Intelligence Agency and the chief of the UK foreign intelligence service (known as MI6).

"No doubt, such voyages of representatives of the aggressive military bloc do not contribute to regional stability and security. And we realize perfectly well that the Westerners’ efforts are first and foremost aimed at destabilizing the countries neighboring Russia, not at building cooperation with them," Zakharova said.

"When contacting our Azerbaijani and other partners within the CIS, we will continue to explain to them the risks of deepening interaction with NATO, as it is fraught with the loss of some national sovereignty and with internal political turbulence," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed.